Red Bull Ring

Located in Spielberg, Austria, the Red Bull Ring is a short 4.236km circuit. Apart from two low-speed corners, the track is made up of straights and high-speed corners, resulting in a high average speed and the shortest lap time among the venues on this year’s FIA F3 calendar. It is also a circuit where overtaking is relatively possible, meaning battles can be seen at various points during the race.

Sprint Race: P6 on the grid → P7

The 21-lap Sprint Race started at 10:05am on Saturday 27 June, with the top 12 from qualifying reversed on the grid. Kato started from sixth, but lost ground at the start and dropped to eighth. A car that made contact at Turn 1 on the opening lap stopped on track, bringing out the Safety Car (SC), and the race resumed on lap 4, giving Kato the opportunity to fight back.

On lap 5, Kato completed an overtake at Turn 4 to move up to seventh. In the middle phase of the race, the field from the leader down to 16th was covered by the DRS range, creating a close contest with battles continuing at each position. Kato dropped back to eighth again on lap 16 and took the chequered flag in that position. After the race, however, the driver who had finished sixth was disqualified following post-race scrutineering, promoting Kato to seventh in the final classification and giving him four points.

©Dutch Photo Agency