Nocturne's Tom Stevens managed to extend his championship lead during round 4 of the 2021-2022 Grand Prix United Formula 3 Championship by winning his third race of the season in race 1. Canadian debutant Andrew Waring managed to impressively win race 2 for THR, after getting a last-minute call to step in.
Qualifying saw familiarity up top, as Tom Stevens secured his third pole position of the season. However, things were very close, as the top four were separated by less than a tenth of a second! Danger was close for Stevens; his championship rival Chris Butcher qualified second. Moritz Kropp qualified third for Nocturne.
Surprise of the day was Peter Vagapov, who managed to put his Valle Esports car fourth on the grid after an impressive qualifying session. 2020 European F3 Champion Menno Klont continued his qualifying improvements to achieve his best qualifying result of the season with fifth.
For STAX Racing, it was a disappointing qualifying. Daniel Brewer and Lewis Bickers qualified sixth and seventh respectively, and were looking to work their way up in the race. Guyon Branten qualified eighth for MODE Auto Concepts, with THR debutant Andrew Waring in ninth. The top ten would be completed by Stephane Rouault, who did a great job of putting his Mazumder Motorsports car in the top ten in only his first ever Grand Prix United qualifying session.
Racing got underway for race 1 of the day. Butcher managed to get alongside Stevens before reaching the first corner, but late braking by Stevens made sure that he could stay ahead.
An incident occurred in turn 2, as STAX Racing driver Daniel Brewer was involved in small contact with Peter Vagapov. The contact was enough to send Brewer off the circuit and into a wall, resulting in a lost front wing and a damaged suspension. One corner later would see Vagapov also hit the wall and lose his front wing too. The Russian driver went too wide in turn 3 and had been sent spinning off the circuit.
Chaos continued in turns 5 and 6 as Scuderia Freccia Nera's Stan Vlietstra went off track in turn 5. Upon rejoining the track, he collided with Alexandre Peroche (Buttler-Pal Motorsport), who got then send into Chris Gitsov (SimApex RT) and later Perseus Miram (Team Yearone). With three drivers spinning ahead, it was impossible for GT Omega RPM Esports rookie Justin Mifsud to avoid the incident ahead. Luckily, he could continue without major damage to his car.
As things started to settle down, the top three seemed to be in a league of its own. Stevens and Butcher remained close in a 1-2, with a small gap to Moritz Kropp in third. Andrew Waring, who benefited from a good start, managed to overtake Menno Klont (Buttler-Pal Motorsport) for fourth by placing a move around the outside of turn 1 in the seventh lap of the race. Behind them it would now be Sven Geelhoed (Mazumder Motorsport), who also worked his way up from 11th place and would now find himself in sixth place. Guyon Branten (MODE Auto Concepts) was in seventh, with a small gap to Lewis Bickers, Stephane Rouault and Aleksander Rogoza in eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.
Chris Butcher was on the hunt, and kept pressure on Tom Stevens until the end of the race. However, it wasn't enough to overtake his Nocturne rival. Tom Stevens secured his third win of the season, with Chris Butcher finishing close behind in second, Moritz Kropp in third, Andrew Waring in fourth and Sven Geelhoed in fifth. Menno Klont finished in sixth place after tire wear issues caused him to lose a position in the later stages of the race. The top ten would be completed by Lewis Bickers, Guyon Branten, Stephane Rouault and Aleksander Rogoza.
Loïc Meunier (Team Iris) secured pole position for race 2 after finishing twelfth in race 1. Valle Esports' Massimiliano Ribolli would line up alongside him in second place, with Aleksander Rogoza (Gallery82 Motorsport) in third and Stephane Rouault (Mazumder Motorsport) in fourth.
After strategically lining up his car sideways in his grid slot, Massimiliano Ribolli was able to immediately tuck into the slipstream of Meunier. With a long run to turn 1, he would find himself alongside the Team Iris driver in turn 1 after using his slipstream. The move didn't stick, but it wasn't over yet for Ribolli.
From turns 2 to 6, Ribolli managed to attack Meunier several times. Aleksander Rogoza, who was in third, waited for the right opportunity to pass the fighting drivers ahead, and saw his golden opportunity in turn 6 as both Meunier and Ribolli went wide. The Polish Gallery82 Motorsport driver overtook both cars and would now take the lead of the race.
Behind them, Stephane Rouault and Lewis Bickers touched. Bickers would spin and end up in the middle of the circuit, causing a huge multi-car crash that was unavoidable for several drivers. It would mean the end of the race for Sven Geelhoed, Jurgen Langerak and Chris Gitsov.
After crossing the line first after the first lap of the race, Aleksander Rogoza was now being attacked by Loïc Meunier in second. Massimiliano Ribolli followed closely in third, but would be overtaken by fourth place Andrew Waring in the first corner of lap two. Stephane Rouault was in fifth place, followed by Menno Klont, Moritz Kropp, Guyon Branten, Chris Butcher and race one winner Tom Stevens.
THR's Andrew Waring eventually closed the gap to Meunier in second, and would pass him in the fourth lap of the race. Stephane Rouault would also overtake Meunier two laps later, which demoted the Team Iris driver to fourth place.
Waring continued to gain on first-place driver Aleksander Rogoza and in lap 7 he managed to successfully overtake Rogoza in turn 1. He would now lead the race in his first outing in the championship.
In the following laps, Andrew Waring managed to extend his lead and won his first race in only his first Grand Prix United event. Rogoza would take home his first ever Grand Prix United podium by finishing in second place. For Stephane Rouault, who also made his debut in Mugello, it was a solid third place. Championship leader Tom Stevens would finish fourth after starting twelfth, and pole sitter Loïc Meunier would finish fifth. Positions six, seven and eight would be for Chris Butcher, Menno Klont and Massimiliano Ribolli.
The battle for ninth would continue until the last second of the race, as Grech managed to overtake Lehoux for ninth in the final lap. However, Lehoux did not give up and gave it his all to regain the position before the end of the race. A good exit in the final corner managed to launch him alongside Grech. The finish line approached fast, but it was Grech who managed to finish ninth, 0.024 seconds ahead of Alex Lehoux.
After Mugello, Tom Stevens stays first in the drivers' standings. He now has a 26-point advantage over Chris Butcher in second. Daniel Brewer remains third in the driver's standings for STAX Racing, 56 points behind Stevens.
In the team standings, Nocturne leads with 175 points. THR is second with 168 points, and STAX Racing find themselves in third with 120 points.
The next event will be at Zandvoort on the 31st of January.