After a race full of on-track battles and safety car restarts, the sprint race in Imola had its biggest twist right at the end. After leading the entire race, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel León was overtaken by Ollie Goethe with just two corners to go, before a penalty demoted the German back to second place. Feeder Series explains the chaotic turn of events that eventually led León to his maiden F3 win.

By Daniele Spadi

With four safety cars and a virtual safety car at the end, it was by far the race with the least amount of green flag running of the 2024 season. This did not seem to phase race leader Noel León, who looked to have everything under control up until the penultimate lap of the race, when a virtual safety car was called to retrieve Luke Browning’s Hitech stuck in the gravel at Tosa.

The VSC then ended with just two corners to go; Goethe was the quickest to react, swerving to the left exiting Variante Alta and getting past León. The German then navigated the two Rivazza corners perfectly, crossing the line in first place. However, the stewards almost immediately penalised the Campos driver for a safety car infringement, thus demoting him to second and giving the race win back to León.

The reigning Euroformula Open champion was therefore able to clinch his first race win in the series, whereas Goethe was left stunned as he climbed out of the car having tasted victory for just a few seconds.

The penalties explained

Though many believed that Goethe’s penalty could be from jump-starting the VSC restart, the Campos driver explained in detail what happened during the final stages of the sprint. “I got a penalty for a safety car infringement,” the German explained right after the race.

“This was in the last safety car, not the [last] virtual safety car. Once I caught Noel and the safety car, I was following them, and the safety car was driving quicker than the delta. I was just following them, because once you are with them you should stay within 10 car lengths – and that’s what I did. But I was of course a little bit below the delta because they were going quicker in front.”

The German, who was fighting to claim his second F3 win after winning the feature race in Silverstone last year, was the race winner for only a few seconds, and the 19-year-old was not too happy with the stewards’ decision. “I don’t believe it’s completely fair,” he said. “I think they’re investigating it now; we’ll see what happens, of course I wanted to win really badly.”

Not the only one

However, Goethe was not the only one to get penalised after the race. His fellow countryman Tim Tramnitz also received a five-second penalty for the same reason, but was still able to keep his third place, securing his second podium finish of the year.

“I would just assume it’s probably the same as Ollie,” the MP Motorsport driver said. “As soon as I caught the safety car queue at the last restart, the rule is to follow the safety car and stay within 10 car lengths, so that’s just what I did – stay with the others within the 10 car lengths. I think it’s going to be investigated again, so then we will see.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency