Misano F3: Aron wins, Armstrong taken out

[Nergal]

 

Ralf Aron rounded out the Formula 3 European Championship round at Misano by winning a soggy final race, as title contender Marcus Armstrong was spun out of contention.

After a safety car start, the race was red-flagged on lap two due to torrential rain, but restarted after the cars had waited 20 minutes in the pitlane.

Poleman Armstrong looked unbeatable early on, as he opened up a 1.7-second gap on Prema Powerteam stablemate Aron within just one lap of racing.

But Aron began to chip away at the gap, and on the sixth lap of racing he dived down the inside of Armstrong at Turn 8 to take the lead.

Aron was already 0.9s to the good at the end of that lap, but then the safety car was called after Motopark duo Sebastian Fernandez and Marino Sato lobbed their cars into separate gravel traps.

The restart proved Armstrong’s undoing, when Juri Vips dived down his inside into Turn 16 before the start-finish line, and then Ferdinand Habsburg also got momentum on the Kiwi to move into third.

To compound his misery, title contender Armstrong was then turned around into a spin by Prema teammate Guan Yu Zhou at Turn 4 in an incident that put both out of the race.