A positive start to the new F3 season
Hitech TGR’s Martinius Stenshorne got his second season of Formula 3 off to a sensational start with a podium in the opening Sprint Race on Saturday.
The series’ seventh season began with the competitive debut of the all-new F3 car, Friday’s Practice session providing the first opportunity to assess it in racing conditions. Following the three-day test in Barcelona, the team was armed with plenty of data with which to prepare for the season-opener.
After qualifying in ninth place, Martinius lined up fourth for the reverse-grid Sprint Race and delivered a superb performance from lights to flag, putting up a strong fight against race winner Santiago Ramos. Off the start, he got past Bilinski into Turn 1 for second, who retook the place just four corners later. This move opened the door for Inthraphuvasak and Zagazeta to get past the Norwegian, but he fired back before the end of the lap, re-passing the pair into Turn 11 to reclaim second.
“It was a great start for us here in Melbourne. Starting the Sprint Race from P4 to finish P2 was really good. We managed to get into second quite early, then it was really just about managing the tyres to the end of the race. I'm really happy with our first podium of 2025.”
A Virtual Safety Car was required on Lap 2 to recover Wurz’s stricken car, before a full Safety Car deployment after the briefest green flag period. Racing resumed on Lap 9, with Ramos holding on to his lead from Stenshorne and together they started to break away from the rest of the pack.
Crucially in the battle for the lead, Ramos ran wide at Turn 13, allowing Stenshorne to get back into DRS range of his VAR rival ahead. On Lap 13, the Hitech driver got a good run into Turn 11 and forced the Mexican driver to defend the corner.
Another Safety Car with five laps to go confirmed the final placings, as there was not enough time to get back to green flag racing. Martinius finished in second place for his third podium in the category.
Gerrard Xie had a superb Rookie debut. Having qualified on the 12th row, he stayed out of trouble in an otherwise action-packed race and managed to gain an impressive nine places in the process.
Joshua Dufek qualified in 13th place and was all set to fight for a points-paying position on his debut with the team. After a Lap 2 incident with Louis Sharp, he was forced to pit for a new front wing and the later application of a 10-second time penalty dropped him down the order to 22nd place.
For Sunday’s 30 lap Feature Race, the weather took an entirely expected turn for the worst. Pre-season testing had provided only one day’s running in similar conditions, and the last full wet race was at Spielberg in 2023.
The action got underway behind the Safety Car after a ten-minute delay, with full wet tyres the order of the day. The rain provided a tough test for the entire grid, the new F3 car levelling the playing field. Though the downpour subsided, the track was holding a lot of water and the painted road markings on this temporary track were very slippery.
Starting from ninth, Martinius passed Bilinski for P8. Dufek finished in 11th place, just outside the points, while Gerrard gained a further six places to finish 18th.
ROUND 1 RESULTS
Sprint Race – Saturday
Martinius Stenshorne – P2 – 8 points
Gerrard Xie – P16
Joshua Dufek – P22
Feature Race – Sunday
Martinius Stenshorne – P8 – 6 points
Joshua Dufek – P11
Gerrard Xie – P18
Drivers’ Standings
Martinius Stenshorne – P5 – 14 points
Joshua Dufek – P16
Gerrard Xie – P22
Teams’ Standings
Hitech TGR – P5 – 14 points