Japanese Taito Kato won the Sprint of the penultimate round of the 2026 Formula 3 season in the early hours of this Saturday (5), held at the Monza National Circuit in Italy. In one of the most eventful races, the ART Grand Prix driver took the lead in the final laps and resisted attacks from Freddie Slater to claim victory at the end of the 18 laps on the Italian circuit.
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Second place went to Slater, a Trident driver who secured pole position for Sunday’s race and started from 12th position in the early hours, climbing through the field. Hiyu Yamakoshi, from Van Amersfoort, completed the podium in third place, finishing ahead of Yevan David, fourth with AIX Racing. Alessandro Giusti, who fought for the win throughout the race, was fifth with MP Motorsport.
Mattia Colnaghi crossed the finish line in sixth position with an MP Motorsport car, ahead of Ernesto Rivera, seventh with Campos Racing. Enzo Deligny, a Van Amersfoort driver, finished eighth, while Nicola Lacorte, from DAMS, was ninth. The points zone was completed by Bruno Del Pino, with a car prepared by Van Amersfoort. Championship runner-up Ugo Ugoochukwu was 14th with Campos Racing.
The race featured neutralizations throughout its 18 laps. The first occurred when Fernando Barrichello crashed after Brando Badoer tried to defend his position and forced the Brazilian from AIX Racing onto the grass, causing the accident on the fourth lap and forcing the Safety Car to come out. On the eighth lap, Maciej Gladysz was hit and pushed the ART Grand Prix car off track. The Virtual Safety Car was deployed.
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With ten laps completed, Pedro Clerot, then leading, saw the engine of his Rodin Motorsport car explode, forcing him to retire. Moments later, Gerrard Xie missed the braking point for the first corner and collided with Woohyun Shin’s car, causing it to lift off. The drivers were unharmed, but the race direction had to send the Safety Car out again.
After the Sprint race, F3 returns to the track in Monza in the early hours of this Sunday (6), with the start from 3:15 AM.
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