Charles Leclerc has dominated this afternoon’s feature race at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, winning from pole but having to work hard all race long after a safety car threw everyone’s strategies out the window to win from Luca Ghiotto on the same strategy and Oliver Rowland on the alternate tyre choice. 

The race commenced under scorching conditions, with half the grid starting on primes and half on options, indicating just how close the decision was to prove. The Monegasque driver had a decent start but fellow front row starter Ghiotto’s was better, with Leclerc having to work hard to hold back the fast charging Italian through the opening sector, with Alexander Albon making the most of a tremendous start to slot into P3, ahead of Nyck De Vries, Jordan King and Rowland. 

Albon went one better on lap 4 with Ghiotto’s tyres already wearing out: King was the first driver into the pits when they opened on lap 6, with race leader Leclerc and Nobuharu Matsushita in next time around and Ghiotto on lap 8, handing Albon the lead on track ahead of Rowland, who had found a way by De Vries and was looking for more. But a VSC to remove Sergio Canamasas’ car turned into a safety car next time through, and suddenly the strategy calls were all out the window, with Leclerc the first of the stoppers in P12 and the gap to the front now shredded. 

The race was live once more on lap 13, and Leclerc was already blazing a trail through his rivals, so close ahead on track and with substantially older tyres, with Ghiotto thinking about tyre wear and unable to stay with him. The prime-tyred drivers at the front had to push as hard as possible in the hope that any gap they build, plus late fresh rubber, could re-energise their fight for the win. Rowland wasn’t waiting for anyone, dispatching Albon for the lead on lap 21, and all eyes were on the timing screens to monitor the gaps up and down the field. 

One by one they had to peel into the garage, and Leclerc was there to pick up their positions: Rowland eventually returned the race lead back to the Monegasque driver when he pitted on lap 29, the last man to do so, but the gap back to Ghiotto was slowing shrinking as tyre wear came into its own. 

But Leclerc was not to be denied, driving just within the car’s limits all the way to the flag as he celebrated his first feature win ahead of Ghiotto, who managed his car well all race long, and Rowland, who sliced through the field after his pitstop for another podium finish. Matsushita took solace in P4, just ahead of teammate Albon, with Nicholas Latifi mugging Gustav Malja for 6th on the final lap ahead of Artem Markelov, who will be tomorrow’s polesitter, King and Ralph Boschung. 

Feature Race Provisional Classification 

Three drivers were handed time penalties by the race stewards for incidents during this afternoon’s feature race at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona: one for failing to serve a penalty handed down during the race, and two for actions during the Virtual Safety Cat (VSC) period early in the race.

Ralph Boschung was judged to have exceeded the VSC speed limit while he was exiting pitlane, with 20 seconds being added to his time. Johnny Cecotto also received a 20 second time penalty, as he failed to completely remove pressure from throttle within the proscribed time period.

Finally, Sergio Sette Camara was handed a time penalty during the race and failed to observe it: 10 seconds has subsequently been added to his overall time.

Boschung, who was provisionally in the points after finishing tenth, is now classified 12^th: Nyck De Vries takes his point, with Louis Deletraz promoted to P11. Sette Camara drops one place from 13^th to 14^th in the classifications, while Cecotto drops from P15 to 17^thposition.

Charles Leclerc has stolen pole position for tomorrow’s feature race at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, dramatically grabbing the top spot in the last minute after a late red flag to deny Luca Ghiotto, who thought he had timed his run perfectly to finish just before the stop, and Nyck De Vries, who claimed his second top three qualifying position in a row. 

The session opened once again to gloriously sunny conditions, with the entire grid except for the PREMA Racing pair of Leclerc and Antonio Fuoco heading straight out on track to take advantage. As the red cars switched their engines off their rivals pushed hard, with Jordan King the first driver to set a competitive time, just ahead of De Vries. 

The PREMA pair finally restarted their engines and slid out of the pits at the 7 minute mark, just as their rivals were returning, handing them an entirely clear track as they hit their marks for their quick laps. The Italian was slightly faster than his teammate for the first 2 sectors but a mistake in the final complex pushed him down to P8, while Leclerc had a solid banker lap for P2. 

They pitted as many of their rivals hit the track, with De Vries pushing hard for P1 on his fast lap before returning as the RUSSIAN TIME teammates hit the circuit: Ghiotto nailed his run and grabbed the top spot as Artem Markelov was distracted when his fire extinguisher let go, and when Nabil Jeffri rolled to a halt the red flags emerged, with just 6 minutes remaining. 

It looked unlikely that the remainder of the field would have time to go quicker, but Leclerc had the bit between his teeth: Alexander Albon pushed up to P4 as Leclerc went purple in sectors 2 and 3 to steal the top spot as the chequered flag emerged. Behind the top 3 King, Albon, Oliver Rowland, Norman Nato and Fuoco were all well within a second of pole, which covered 14 drivers, suggesting that we can expect the usual fireworks in tomorrow afternoon’s feature race.