F3 Silverstone: Goethe takes maiden series win in safety car interrupted race

The reigning Euroformula Open champion lined up second behind his Italian team-mate before taking the lead on lap 15 after Fornaroli began to struggle with his tyres.

Despite a second safety car and late rain, Goethe held on for his maiden series victory, with Fornaroli second and Pepe Marti in third for Campos.

Fornaroli led off the line, with Marti taking second from Goethe on the first lap as the pack tussled at Luffield.

Paul Aron (Prema) took fourth from Christian Mansell as ahead, Goethe reclaimed second at Stowe.

The first safety car came at the end of the first lap as several drivers tangled, with Luke Browning (Hitech) stopping on the Hamilton Straight after being nudged off by Campos driver Hugh Barter.

Caio Collet (Van Amersfoort Racing) also had contact with MP Motorsport driver Jonny Edgar, forcing both into the pits with damage.

There was confusion over who ran third between Marti and Aron, with both drivers claiming they should have the place, though Marti held position.

Racing resumed on lap seven before the yellow flags were thrown as Zak O’Sullivan stopped in his Prema-run car at Luffield, having been pushed wide by Kaylen Frederick (ART) before spinning, though he managed to get going again before pitting.

Dino Beganovic, who started last for Prema after his engine blew during qualifying, was up to 17th by lap nine.

Marti began losing time to the leading pair before Goethe took the lead on lap 15, with better pace than his team-mate, while Aron attempted a move on Marti at Stowe but fell back.

Rain began to fall on lap 17 as dark clouds loomed, but Goethe had managed to build a 1.5s gap ahead to Fornaroli, with a further 0.5s back to Marti.

The safety car was then deployed for a second time as Roberto Faria ended up in the barrier at Luffield in his PHM-run car after contact with Tommy Smith (VAR).

Racing resumed with two laps remaining, but Goethe maintained his lead to cross the line 1.7s ahead of Fornaroli.

With Marti completing the podium Aron finished fourth, with Saturday podium finisher Mansell (Campos) in fifth and championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto (Trident) in sixth.

Hitech driver Gabriele Mini crossed the line seventh, with sprint race winner Franco Colapinto in eighth. Collet and Gregoire Saucy (ART) rounded off the top 10.

F3 resumes in Budapest from 21-23 July.

F3 Silverstone - Feature race results

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Gap
1	Oliver Goethe	Trident	22
2	Leonardo Fornaroli	Trident	22	1.720
3	Pepe Martí	Campos Racing	22	2.128
4	Paul Aron	Prema Powerteam	22	4.384
5	Christian Mansell	Campos Racing	22	5.968
6	Gabriel Bortoleto	Trident	22	7.334
7	Gabriele Minì	Hitech Pulse-Eight	22	7.997
8	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport	22	8.529
9	Caio Collet	Van Amersfoort Racing	22	9.680
10	Gregoire Saucy	ART Grand Prix	22	10.018
11	Tommy Smith	Van Amersfoort Racing	22	10.192
12	Sebastian Montoya	Hitech Pulse-Eight	22	11.758
13	Nikola Tsolov	ART Grand Prix	22	12.148
14	Mari Boya	MP Motorsport	22	12.700
15	Hugh Barter	Campos Racing	22	13.169
16	Dino Beganovic	Prema Powerteam	22	14.075
17	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort Racing	22	14.767
18	Nikita Bedrin	Jenzer Motorsport	22	15.496
19	Zak O'Sullivan	Prema Powerteam	22	15.808
20	Kaylen Frederick	ART Grand Prix	22	16.481
21	Oliver Gray	Rodin Carlin	22	18.067
22	Taylor Barnard	Jenzer Motorsport	22	18.914
23	McKenzy Cresswell	PHM Racing by Charouz	22	20.308
24	Sophia Flörsch	PHM Racing by Charouz	22	20.723
25	Ido Cohen	Rodin Carlin	22	22.913
26	Alex Garcia	Jenzer Motorsport	22	26.901
	Roberto Faria	PHM Racing by Charouz	16
	Max Esterson	Rodin Carlin	14
	Jonny Edgar	MP Motorsport	11
	Luke Browning	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1
View full results