The Spanish driver and the German-Danish driver once again place the Campos Racing machinery up the front in the FIA F3 championship, earning a good haul of points. Montoya climbs up from the back of the grid
A typical FIA Formula 3 weekend in the unique setting of the Monaco Grand Prix of F1, filled with excitement, tight races, safety cars, and lots of contact. However, Campos Racing managed to once again place two of its drivers in the points-scoring positions. Mari Boya, who was the team’s best driver in qualifying, finished sixth and seventh in Monte Carlo while his teammate Oliver Goethe climbed to tenth place both days after starting from the middle of the pack. Colombian Sebas Montoya was hindered by his rear starting position but shone by overtaking numerous positions on such a challenging track for overtaking.
In the free practice session, which exceptionally took place on Thursday in Monaco, thunder and lightning preceded a rainstorm that significantly affected the planned work for all drivers. In the end, Montoya was the fastest with a time of 1m31.719s, while Boya and Goethe set personal bests of 1m37.760s and 1m38.053s, respectively.
Friday was when a good part of the weekend’s options were at stake during the two qualifying sessions. Unlike the previous day, the day dawned sunny and warm. In session A, reserved for even-numbered cars, Boya was among the top four fastest drivers throughout, and his lap of 1m24.787s secured his spot on the fourth row of the grid, seventh. Goethe, on the other hand, couldn’t find a clean lap without traffic, and his time of 1m25.061s forced him to start both races from the seventh row. In session B, for odd-numbered cars, even red flags were waved, and as a result, Colombian Montoya couldn’t improve his time of 1m26.069s, which forced him to start from 24th place on the grid.
In the 23-lap sprint race on Saturday, the start was very eventful. In fact, a multi-car collision on the first lap involving up to five drivers caused a red flag as the track was blocked. Among the Campos Racing drivers, Boya managed to stay in sixth place while Goethe already moved into the top ten after these early skirmishes. After half an hour, the race resumed behind the safety car. Following the expected script, it was a group race where the goal was not to overheat the tires by driving too close to the preceding car. Moreover, this allowed drivers to catch their breath to fight for the fastest lap and the extra point it awarded. The safety car appeared once more before the end, but without substantial changes in positions. Boya crossed the finish line in sixth place while Goethe closed the points positions in tenth. Montoya climbed to eighteenth place.
Sunday’s race, scheduled for 27 laps, had a similar strategic development but without a red flag. When the lights went out, Boya held onto seventh place while Goethe was running 13th at the end of the first lap. The safety car was deployed immediately, but a lap later, the green flags were waving again. Boya had an exciting duel with Joseph Loake, and although the Briton overtook him on lap 9, the Spaniard regained his position on lap 14 by forcing him into a mistake at the chicane exit of the tunnel. The safety car returned on lap 20, and once again on lap 23. Goethe ran intelligently and took advantage of all these incidents to climb to tenth place. In a thrilling final lap, Boya crossed the finish line seventh, while Goethe repeated his tenth place. Montoya managed to climb to 15th place, a feat considering the difficulty of overtaking on this street circuit.
After Monaco, Goethe stands in sixth place with 43 points in the drivers’ standings. Boya occupies the tenth place with 30 points. As for the team standings, Campos Racing is currently in fourth position with 85 points.
The next FIA Formula 3 event will be at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the venue of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix and a home race for Campos Racing. This fifth round is scheduled for June 22-23.
Photos: © Dutch Photo Agency
