First to finish but classified as second: Penalty deprives Oliver Goethe of second Formula 3 victory – Tim Tramnitz also on the podium despite penalty
A 5-second penalty for an offense behind the safety car deprived Oliver Goethe (Campos) of his second Formula 3 victory in Saturday’s sprint race at Imola. The German had overtaken Noel Leon (Van Amersfoort), who had been leading until then, shortly before the end of the race at the restart after a virtual safety car, but was only classified second due to the penalty
In addition to Leon, who celebrated his first victory in Formula 3, and Goethe, another German driver, Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport), finished third on the podium. For Tramnitz, who like Goethe is a Red Bull Junior, it was his second podium finish in his seventh Formula 3 race.
Curious: Tramnitz was also handed a 5-second penalty for an offense behind the safety car, but this had no consequences. The fact that both Goethe and Tramnitz finished on the podium despite the penalties was thanks to one of their colleagues from the Red Bull junior squad.
Kacper Sztuka (MP Motorsport) in fourth place had completely overslept the restart after the final safety car phase, allowing the top three to pull away from the rest of the field. At the finish, the gap to fourth place was large enough to compensate for the penalty.
The spectators in Imola and watching on TV witnessed a very bumpy sprint race that was characterized by numerous incidents. The safety car had to neutralize the field a total of five times and there was also a virtual safety car phase.
Championship leader Luke Browning (Hitech) was also involved in one of the incidents. After a collision with a rival, he ended up in the gravel trap of the Tosa corner with a defective front wing.
Charly Wurz (Jenzer) was also involved in an incident. The son of former Formula 1 driver Alexander Wurz collided with Callum Voisin (Rodin) and received a 10-second penalty. The Austrian was classified 23rd, Sophia Flörsch (Van Amersfoort) finished the race in 15th place
The penalties against Goethe and Tramnitz were rescinded by race control after the race. As Leon received a 5-second penalty at the same time, Goethe is now classified as the race winner, Tramnitz as second and Leon as third.
