Leclerc resists Sargeant to win opening Zandvoort F3 sprint race
Leclerc made a lightning start from third on the grid, getting past reverse grid pole-sitter Armaury Cordeel and Sargeant around the outside of Turn 1.
Sargeant looked like he claimed the lead of the race into Turn 1 but Leclerc was braver on the brakes.
The race started dramatically with Cordeel and Aleksandr Smolyar coming to blows into Turn 3.
Smolyar spun Cordeel around, sustaining front wing damage in the process and picking up a 10-second stop-go penalty from the stewards.
In the opening half of the race, Sargeant had a superior race pace, maintaining a 0.5s or less gap to Leclerc.
Sargeant continued to pressure Leclerc, forcing the Monegasque to defend on multiple occasions into Turn 1.
A late Safety Car was the last test for Leclerc at the front.
Contact between Hunter Yeany and Johnathan Hoggard at Turn 1 saw both cars end up in the barrier.
Leclerc maintained the lead from the restart, ultimately winning by just over one second.
Sargeant finished second, resisting late pressure from Hitech Grand Prix’s Ayumu Iwasa.
Jak Crawford enjoyed one of his best races of the season as he finished fourth in the second Hitech.
Crawford went up the inside of Iwasa at Turn 3 after the Safety Car restart but couldn’t make the move stick for the final spot on the rostrum.
Caio Collet finished fifth in the lead MP Motorsport car ahead of title contender Jack Doohan, who enjoyed a quiet race to sixth.
Dennis Hauger recovered to a strong seventh from 12th on the grid, although he didn’t have it all his way.
As he tried to overtake Victor Martins into the Turn 11 chicane, Hauger locked up and ran into the gravel trap, losing the position to Martins and then Clement Novalak.
Hauger made up for it at the restart, getting back past Novalak into Turn 1, before going around the outside of Martins at Turn 3 a lap later.
Completing the top 10 were Martins, Frederik Vesti and Olli Caldwell.
Novalak and Ido Cohen will share the front row of the grid for the second sprint race this afternoon.
Click here for the full FIA Formula 3 race results from the first sprint race at Zandvoort.
