The Prema Racing driver drove a smart race, waiting until the second half of the 23-lap journey to make a move and in the end establishing a telling lead over Leonardo Fornaroli.

Trident’s Fornaroli bolted at the start but his handy gap was almost immediately denied by a Safety Car period, prompted by a clash between local driver Tommy Smith (Van Amersfoort) and Joseph Loake (Rodin).

After the damaged cars were cleared away, Fornaroli tried to establish a DRS-proof gap but Gabriele Mini initially held on, keeping it to just under one second and staying in touch. By lap 12 Fornaroli had his advantage beyond the magic DRS gap and tried to ease away, leaving Mini to fend off Beganovic.

That defense only lasted until lap 13 when, after the Prema team management gave him approval to overtake his team-mate, the Swede took off after Fornaroli. Mini looked to have overworked his tires, when a lap later Williams junior Luke Browning snatched third and pulled away.

It took only a lap for Beganovic to catch Fornaroli and the Trident pilot looked in no mood to defend the faster car, which sliced ​​past at Turn 9 to take the lead, Fornaroli seemingly content to allow Beganovic to set the pace. But over the final two laps Beganovic broke away, taking his maiden F3 win by 0.89secs.

Fornaroli’s fifth podium finish came after a clever drive, but just as the leading pair had settled down to fight out the win, Browning and Mini staged their own for the final step on the podium. Williams Junior Browning held the edge over the Alpine junior until the penultimate lap, Mini sweeping around the outside of Turn 6.

Browning was nearly 13 seconds clear of placed fifth Charlie Wurz. The rookie had a great maiden Feature race at Albert Park, holding out a fellow second-generation driver, Sebastian Montoya (Campos), for fifth place. Fellow Campos pilots Mari Boya and Nikita Bedrin (PHM AIX) finished seventh and eighth.

Oliver Goethe followed ahead of the best local driver, Christian Mansell, to finish ninth. The ART driver, who ran wide and lost ground at the first restart, went on to finish 10th. The other Australian driver in the race, Tommy Smith, tangled with Joseph Loake on the opening lap, prompting the Safety Car.

Sprint race winner Martinius Stenshorne had a mid-race clash with Joshua Dufek and later reported a punctured tire. The Hitech driver was classified 26th, the last of the drivers to finish the race.

The results mean that Browning and Fornaroli are now tied for the championship lead on 37 points, with Mini on 32. Beganovic jumps to fourth on 28 ahead of Lindblad on 23 and Tramnitz and Mansell tied on 21.

F3 Melbourne – Feature race results:

1

D. Beganovic Prema Powerteam

1 23 25 1
2

L. Fornaroli Trident

4 23 1,682 18
3

G. Mini Prema Powerteam

2 23 1,539 fifteen
4

L. Browning Hitech Pulse-Eight

14 23 0.829 12
5

C. Wurz Jenzer Motorsport

17 23 12,908 10
6 S. Montoya Racing Fields eleven 23 4,272 8
7

M. Boya Racing Fields

12 23 0.262 6
8

N. Bedrin PHM AIX Racing

27 23 4,118 4
9

O. Goethe Racing Fields

10 23 0.920 2
10

C. Mansell ART Grand Prix

23 23 0.255 1
eleven

A. Lindblad Prema Powerteam

3 23 0.224
12

S. Megetounif Trident

5 23 2,428
13

L.Van ART Grand Prix

24 23 0.075
14

M. Esterson Jenzer Motorsport

18 23 0.929
fifteen

T. Tramnitz MP Motorsport

7 23 2,582
16

A. Dunne MP Motorsport

9 23 0.554
17

M. Zagazeta Jenzer Motorsport

19 23 0.490
18

K. Sztuka MP Motorsport

8 23 3,745
19

N. Tsolov ART Grand Prix

25 23 0.410
twenty

C. Shields Hitech Pulse-Eight

16 23 4,471
twenty-one

C. Voisin Rodin Motorsport

29 23 1,387
22

J. Dufek PHM AIX Racing

28 23 8,668
23

P. Wiśnicki Rodin Motorsport

30 23 8,847
24

S. Ramos Trident

6 23 8,331
25

N. León Van Amersfoort Racing

twenty 23 0.709
26

M. Stenshorne Hitech Pulse-Eight

fifteen 23 3,600
dnf Germany S.Flörsch Van Amersfoort Racing twenty-one 1 22 Laps Retirement
dnf

T. Inthraphuvasak PHM AIX Racing

26 0 Retirement
dnf

J.Loake Rodin Motorsport

31 0 Retirement
dnf

T. Smith Van Amersfoort Racing

22 0 Retirement



Source