Sophia Floersch completed a challenging Formula 3 Regional round at Mugello with a ninth place in Race 3. Scolari was back on the grid but had to retire.
The third day on the iconic Mugello track opened with a thick fog that slightly delayed the track action early on. When the third and last Formula Regional European Championship race of the weekend went green, the sun was back shining and temperatures were warmer compared to the previous sessions. Nevertheless, the track remained a bit slower.
Following a difficult qualifying session on Friday, Sophia Floersch lined up on the grid in 10th, as per the Q2 session's second fastest lap.
David Schumacher started again from pole position and was able this time to successfully defend from his competitors at the start and completed the first lap ahead of his newcomer teammate Lirim Zendeli.
Dan Ticktum had a slow getaway and allowed Sophia Floersch to go alongside entering the first corner, but the German girl could not find a way past her VAR teammate, as both jumped in front of Nannini and the Brit also overtook Caldwell in the first corners.
Olli Caldwell was soon under pressure from Floersch as well and, after three laps, the 18-year old completed an outstanding pass on the Prema driver going around the outside at turn one and finally taking P8 at turn 3. Guzman made an opportunistic move stick and stayed close behind Floersch for the remaining of the race.
With Schumacher opening a safe gap on Zendeli and the rest of the field, the race went by relatively uneventful: only Ticktum-Floersch-Guzmann-Caldwell had a 19 laps-long close fight for seventh position. Sophia lapped consistently in the mid 1:45, at times faster than Dan Ticktum, but could not ultimately attempt a move, with the British driver trying to break the tow on the main straight.
On the eleventh lap, Sharon Scolari took the way of the pitlane and retired her Tatuus T-318. She had a positive Friday with no prior experience of the circuit but crashed at turn 9 in Saturday's first race and could not take the start to the second race due to the damages sustained by her F3 car. Scolari will be back on the grid in Monza, for the last round of her debut F3 season.
David Schumacher's unreachable pace allowed him to get more than 5 seconds ahead of Zendeli, while Hughes completed a stunning move on series dominator Frederik Vesti and passed the Danish driver for third. After a troubled Friday, experienced Jake Hughes finished all the three races on the podium in his first Formula Regional weekend, as Schumacher and Zendeli claimed a dominant 1-2 for US Racing.
It wasn't a perfect third race for Vesti, who finished fourth a very cautious race. With Fittipaldi stuck in sixth position behind Fraga, the Danish Prema ace clinched anyway the inaugural FIA F3 Regional title after a convincing season.
On the very last corner, Floersch lost eighth from Guzmann, finishing P9 a challenging weekend.
The lady from Munich will now look forward to the last Monza round in two weeks time, where the very different track layout will hopefully provide diverse performances for the Van Amersfoort driver.
Ph credits: Racers-BehindtheHelmet.com