Louis Sharp has made moves to finish fourteenth in the feature race in Austria, while Freddie Slater, Noah Stromsted, and Ugo Ugochukwu battled it out at the front in a thrilling battle.
The first lap was cut short by a safety car, as Gladyz and Yevan David both retired with terminal damage, while Alexandro Gusti was noted for a false start infrigement.
Sharp was able to avoid trouble to move up to eighteenth, and quickly started applying pressure to Gerrard Xie when the race resumed on lap four.
Once the Kiwi had cleared Xie, he firmly set his sights on Nicola Lacorte, but his progress was stalled as a virtual safety car was called after Michael Shin and Fernando Barichello clashed, ending both of their races. By the time the VSC was called, the Kiwi had moved into sixteenth.
On the second restart, the Kiwi was quick to pounce as he, along with Lacorte, moved forward. Sharp soon slotted into fifteenth, hunting the back of the Italian. Soon enough, the Kiwi had made his sixth pass of the race and moved into fourteenth.
Out front, it was a battle of the CTRFOC titans as Freddie Slater led over Ugo Ugochukwu. Meanwhile, Mattia Colgnahi received a five second penalty for a start infrigement, meaning if Sharp stayed close, he could benefit again.
It was clear Sharp had pace and could move forward if presented the opportunity. At the front of the grid, the field had closed up and Slater was under heavy pressure with drivers behind in a DRS train. Sharp’s teammate James Wharton remained in eleventh, four places ahead of the Kiwi.
With seven laps to go, Ugochukwu moved back into second place while Yamakoshi started to fall into Noah Stromsted’s grasp. Slater soon started to slip back, and the group nearly clashed as Slater started to heavily defend.
After twenty-two laps, Sharp moved into fourteenth while Wharton moved into twelfth.
The last lap turned into a biff and barge match out the front as Slater and Ugochukwu got together, and Sharp fell into the clutches of the driver behind as he crossed the line in fifteenth.
However, the Kiwi was promoted to fourteenth on track as Colgnahi served his five second penalty after the race.
Formula 3 now heads to Silverstone for the fifth round of the season, with action kicking off on the 3rd of July.
