Nikola Tsolov has been disqualified from the Formula 3 Feature Race in Austria as Martinius Stenshorne inherits the race victory.

The Campos Racing driver dominated from pole position and fended off a challenge from his title rival, Rafael Camara.

It would have marked his third win of the season, but a post-race technical inspection found his car to be non-compliant.

Tsolov was summoned to the stewards after his car failed to meet the minimum plank thickness requirement.

A document from the FIA read: “The Stewards received a report from the Technical Delegate (Document 58).

“They summoned the Driver and Team Representative of Car 12 (Document 60) and heard the Team Representative and Technical Delegate.

“Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that the rear plank of Car 12 was below the minimum thickness required and is therefore in breach
of Article 3.2.2 of the Technical Regulations.”

“The Team explained that they had measured the plank before the race and that it was compliant, and that the reason for the measurements being outside of the tolerances
was due to wear during the race.

“The team further noted that a section of the plank was missing at the edge on the same side that was found to be noncompliant.

“They offered that whatever impact damaged the edge could have also caused that side of the plank to thereafter ride lower thus causing the nonconformity.

“The Team did not offer any incident that could have caused the damage other than transitting curbs which the Stewards consider to be a normal part of racing.

“The Technical Delegate stated that the plank appeared to be a normal post-race plank.”

Title contenders benefit from Tsolov’s disqualification

Hitech’s Stenshorne takes his second win of the season and his first in a Feature Race.

The Norwegian produced a stunning drive from 15th on the grid, charging through the field to claim a podium, and now victory, from well outside the top 10.

Tim Tramnitz climbs from 17th on the grid to finish an impressive second, while Mari Boya is promoted to the podium in third after starting 14th.

In a remarkable twist, the gap between Camara and the Bulgarian has now widened, with Tsolov dropping behind Tramnitz in the standings.

The Trident driver now holds a 24-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship after six of the 10 rounds in the 2025 F3 season.

Laurens van Hoepen has also been disqualified for failing to comply with the tyre pressures defined in the Pirelli technical preview.

The ART driver finished ninth in the race and, as a result, loses out on a points finish.

The race classification following the post-race penalties is as follows: Stenshorne, Tramnitz, Boya, Ugo Ugochukwu, Camara, Charlie Wurz, Noah Stromsted, Callum Voisin, Brad Benavides and Theophile Nael takes the final point in 10th place.

READ MORE – Nikola Tsolov cruises to F3 Feature Race victory from pole in Austria

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Alpine Junior Driver Nikola Tsolov claimed another FIA Formula 3 victory after the 21-lap Sprint Race around the Red Bull Ring, with Martinius Stenshorne and Christian Mansell rounding up the podium places.

As soon as the red lights went out for the start, Mansell managed to sweep polesitter Stenshorne into Turn 1, with Tsolov also passing him into the outside of Turn 6 to complete a provisional ART one-two.

Kacper Sztuka made contact with Charlie Wurtz after being engaged into a three-way side by side while Dino Beganovic spun on his own as he lost the rear into Turn 1, with Gabriele Mini successfully avoiding him.

The Prema driver was ultimately able to continue but lost several positions, dropping to 25th.

These incidents summoned the first safety car of the session.

The green flags were waved briefly after, on Lap 5, with both ART drivers successfully holding their positions for the first lap of the restart.

Meanwhile, further back in the pack, Luke Browning, starting from P15 following a 3-place grid drop after getting the fastest time in qualifying managed a double move past Arvid Lindblad and Nikita Bedrin at Turn 4 to move up into 11th.

Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli tried to move past Campos driver Mari Boya on the outside of Turn 3, going off-track but ultimately getting the move done.

Meanwhile, Tsolov repeated his move around the outside, this time into Turn 4 and Turn 5 to take the lead from his ART teammate.

Browning kept moving forward as he got past Tim Tramnitz at the exit of Turn 3 for P10.

Alex Dunne, running into fourth, was under pressure from Sebastian Montoya as the Campos driver was getting closer and closer.

Montoya’s teammate Oliver Goethe was also looking to make a move on Laurens Van Hoepen for P6.

A bit further down in the pecking order, the third Campos car of Mari Boya, who started at the back of the field was also making several places, moving up to 15th.

The lead was unchanged as we reached Lap 14, but Mansell and Stenshorne were gaining on race leader Tsolov, unable to break the DRS effect.

One lap later, Mansell successfully sweeped Tsolov into Turn 3 but the Bulgarian driver re-gained the position only one corner later.

Mansell tried to get the move done again for the lead on the following lap, successfully getting ahead briefly before Tsolov re-took the lead again.

While every driver was making moves, getting advantage from the effect of tyre degradation, Montoya suffered a huge crash into Turn 4 while trying to move past Alex Dunne, finding the walls and coming to a halt in the middle of the track, summoning the second Safety Car of the race.

Before the Safety Car came out, during the battle for the lead, Tsolov managed to hold onto first, with Stenshorne taking advantage of the battle ahead to get past Mansell.

Lindblad, meanwhile, had to retire from the race after picking up a puncture while battling with a Trident car.

The Safety Car got in the pitlane with just one lap to go, but the top 10 ended up without changes, as the driver didn’t want to take too many risks.

Therefore, Tsolov got his second win for the season after the Sprint race win at Monaco, with Stenshorne and Mansell completing the podium.

Dunne, Van Hoepen, and Mini finished fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively with Goethe in seventh.

This was a massive result for ART Grand Prix, with their three cars among the top five of the race.

Tim Tramnitz, Noel Leon and Sami Meguetounif rounded up the top 10 for the Sprint.

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Nikola Tsolov is the second driver this weekend to be barred from competing in the round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship, after breaching the FIA Sporting Regulations.

Alpine Junior Tsolov joins Martinius Stenshorne in breaching article 10.4 of the 2024 F3 sporting regulations which clearly states that “No driver entered in the Championship may carry out any type of activity on any track with any type of single-seater car that was designed and/or built to achieve a power-to-weight ratio less than 2.0 kg/bhp.”

In addition, point ‘e’ of article 10.4 states “Genuine participation to a Standalone event needs to be explicitly approved by the FIA and Promoter in writing.”

Stenshorne was found to be in breach of this having failed to inform the necessary parties of his outing in the Silverstone round of the British GB3 series and thus has been barred from competing at the Northamptonshire circuit when FIA F3 races there in the summer.

Tsolov is guilty of similar action after competing at Spa in the Eurocup-3 season opener on April 19 and 20.

The 17-year-old Bulgarian took part with the Spanish outfit GRS but was reportedly “not aware of the requirements of Article 10.4 and his participation in the Eurocup-3 Series, of which he is planning to participate in three more Eurocup-3 Series Races this year, was organized by his management team three days before the event.”

A client of Fernando Alonso’s A14 Management programme, Tsolov and his management team “failed to request written authorization for the driver to take part in the Eurocup-3 Series, as requested in Article 10.4 of the Sporting Regulations.”

This has resulted in him being prohibited from competing in his ART Grand Prix machine when FIA F3 heads to Belgium later in the year.

Red Bull Junior and Prema FIA F3 rookie Arvin Lindblad has also received a €20,000 fine, with €10,000 of the penalty suspended due to his participation in the two-day GB3 Silverstone test on April 25 and 26 with Fortec Motorsport.

The stewards ruling noted that Lindblad “explained that his management team organized the test session at Silverstone and there was a miscommunication with his team. The Team Representative [from Prema] explained that he was unaware of the Driver’s participation in the GB3 test in Silverstone until they received the summons from the Stewards.”

Thus, it has been considered an “administrative error” and the suspended €10,000 proportion of the fine will only be activated if a similar breach of the regulations occurs again.

Lindblad currently lies fifth in the FIA F3 standings on 23 points whilst Tsolov is 16th with seven points.

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ART Grand Prix has announced that Nikola Tsolov will join the team in 2023 as a full-time driver in the FIA Formula 3 Championship.

Tsolov jumps to the series following a highly successful Spanish Formula 4 season, in which he dominated en route to the championship.

The Bulgarian driver is a member of the Alpine Affiliate programme and A14 Management, a driver management company founded by two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso.

Tsolov got his first taste of F3 machinery at the post-season test from Jerez earlier this year with ART GP.

“It’s a pleasure for me to be stepping up to FIA F3 next year with ART Grand Prix,” he said.

“They’ve been very successful in every championship they’ve competed in and a lot of F1 drivers have been a part of the team. So, I’m super happy to start our journey!”

Tsolov is the second driver confirmed by ART for 2023, after it announced that Gregoire Saucy would stay for a second campaign next year.

ART Grand Prix ended the 2022 F3 season with the Drivers’ Championship in hand, courtesy of Victor Martins.

Team Principal Sébastien Philippe added: “Although it was his debut in F3 and with ART Grand Prix, during the Jerez test Nikola confirmed his ability to adapt quickly and well to a new environment as well as getting the most out of the car.

“His natural speed is reinforced by a great thirst for learning and by remarkable seriousness and determination for such a young age.

“Nikola fits the profile of the young drivers ART Grand Prix takes under its wing and, in the wake of the team securing the FIA Formula 3 with Victor Martins, we want to lay the foundations for a strong line-up, one that is capable of fighting for victory from the very first race of 2023.”

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