Victor Martins takes F3 points lead after feature race win in Barcelona
ART Grand Prix's Victor Martins now leads the F3 drivers' standings after a comfortable F3 feature race win at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.
Martins got past F3 title rival Roman Stanek into the first corner on the opening lap of the feature race in Barcelona.
From then on, the Frenchman controlled the race from the front with overtaking once again very tricky.
Isack Hadjar managed to get ahead of Alex Smolyar for third, with the top four remaining stable throughout the 24-lap race.
Martins' only challenge was to maintain the lead at the two Safety Car restarts.
The Safety Car was deployed on Lap 4 after Kush Maini tapped Rafael Villagomez into the gravel trap.
Race control was forced to deploy it again on Lap 11 when Brad Benavides hit the barrier at Turn 2.
Martins secured another victory ahead of Stanek, who had late pressure from Hadjar in the closing laps.
Smolyar finished fifth ahead of Prema duo Oliver Bearman and Jak Crawford, while Franco Colapinto, Kaylen Frederick and Juan Manuel Correa rounded out the top 10.
Correa is under investigation by the stewards after pushing Arthur Leclerc onto the grass when defending in the closing laps.
The former points leader ultimately finished 14th after his five-second penalty.
In terms of the standings, Martins now has a six-point lead over Stanek following his second victory of the season.
Crawford completes the top three, with the Red Bull F1 junior 12 points off the lead.
Hadjar is the second Red Bull-backed driver in the top four after Crawford. The Frenchman is on 47 points, 15 off the lead.
Leclerc has dropped to fifth after a lacklustre weekend, sitting on 43 points.
Click here for the full FIA F3 results from the feature race in Barcelona
