David Beckmann overcame tough opposition to win a dramatic F3 British Race Two, after Alexander Smolyar was penalised post race.
Smolyar dominated the race from lights to flag despite Beckmann pushing him to his limits in the last 13 laps following a safety car on lap five after Igor Fraga stopped on track.
Beckmann eventually wound up 0.740s slower than the victorious Smolyar at the flag, with the Russian taking his then maiden F3 victory..
Speaking post-race on his then win, Smolyar said; “My first win and it was a tough one. I had to defend a few times, but I am super happy with the car and super happy that I managed to hold my place.
“It was an amazing race and I hope that it is just beginning and that we can fight more, and even better, for the next races.”
Stewards however post race penalised Smolyar five seconds for changing direction down the straight on several occasions, demoting the Russian to sixth.
Clement Novalak, Alex Peroni, Frederik Vesti and Logan Sargeant completed the top five, of whom were split by just 2.632 seconds at the flag.
Liam Lawson, Theo Pourchaire, Richard Verschoor and Jake Hughes rounded out the top ten finishers.
In the drivers’ standings, Oscar Piastri continues to lead the championship despite retiring with a DRS issue, as Sargeant reduced his deficit to 18 points ahead of David Beckmann who sits third and 32.5 points behind Piastri.
Sebastian Fernandez made a slow getaway on the formation lap but managed to recover his fourth placed grid spot, albeit after the first safety car line which earned him a 10 second stop/go penalty.
Once the race started, Smolyar made a clean getaway ahead of Beckmann and Novalak as the then top four held station, whilst Jake Hughes took Logan Sargeant at Stowe for eighth on the opening lap.
Sargeant then got demoted to tenth after MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor squeezed him into the gravel at Luffield, whilst Sargeant’s Prema teammate – Oscar Piastri got even wider and dropped to 16th in the order before retiring on Lap 11 with his DRS stuck open.
Up front, Smolyar continued to build a gap to Beckmann but Fraga stopped on the Wellington Straight with a technical issue on lap five to trigger a three lap safety car period.
Once racing resumed on lap nine, Beckmann kept himself within a second of Smolyar throughout the remaining laps with overtaking attempts at Stowe repeatedly blocked ahead of Novalak and Peroni who held station in case of a collision.
Smolyar meanwhile found himself repeatedly reprimanded by his ART GP engineer to stop zig zagging, following various attempts to break the tow on the straights which eventually saw him plus Beckmann put under investigation by stewards.
Frederik Vesti and Sargeant eventually caught up to the top four but were unable to find a way past, settling for fifth and sixth as just 2.632s covered the top six ahead of Lawson, Pourchaire, Verschoor and Hughes at the flag.
Race Result
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | David Beckmann | Trident | 20 | 39m 10.052 |
| 2 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | 20 | + 1.166 |
| 3 | Alexi Peroni | Campos | 20 | + 1.725 |
| 4 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | 20 | + 2.240 |
| 5 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | 20 | + 2.632 |
| 6 | Alexander Smolyar | ART GP | 20 | + 4.260 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Hitech GP | 20 | + 6.448 |
| 8 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 20 | + 6.991 |
| 9 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 7.601 |
| 10 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | 20 | + 7.889 |
| 11 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | 20 | + 8.358 |
| 12 | Ben Barnicoat | Carlin | 20 | + 11.738 |
| 13 | Frederico Malvestiti | Jenzer | 20 | + 13.763 |
| 14 | Calan Williams | Jenzer | 20 | + 14.357 |
| 15 | David Schumacher | Charouz | 20 | + 14.646 |
| 16 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 17.334 |
| 17 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | 20 | + 18.592 |
| 18 | Roman Stanek | Charouz | 20 | + 19.096 |
| 19 | Enzo Fittipaldi | HWA Racelab | 20 | + 19.338 |
| 20 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | 20 | + 21.261 |
| 21 | Sophia Floersch | Campos | 20 | + 21.994 |
| 22 | Sebastian Fernandez | ART GP | 20 | + 22.288 |
| 23 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 22.863 |
| 24 | Matteo Nannini | Jenzer | 20 | + 23.364 |
| 25 | Cameron Das | Carlin | 20 | + 25.996 |
| 26 | Olli Caldwell | Trident | 20 | + 28.478 |
| 27 | Jack Doohan | HWA Racelab | 20 | + 29.674 |
| 28 | Alessio Deledda | Campos | 20 | + 33.872 |
| 29 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | 10 | DRS |
| 30 | Igor Fraga | Charouz | 4 | Engine |
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