VAR secures first Monaco win as Yamakoshi holds off Xie

Hiyu Yamakoshi converted a reverse-grid pole into his first FIA Formula 3 (F3) win in a chaotic, red-flagged Monaco sprint, holding off Gerrard Xie (DAMS Lucas Oil) and Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR) team-mate Bruno del Pino to give VAR its first Monaco victory.

An opening-lap collision at the Fairmont hairpin, involving MP Motorsport's Tuukka Taponen and also catching AIX Racing's Brad Benavides and Rodin Motorsport's Brando Badoer and Christian Ho, triggered a Safety Car and prompted a Lap 2 red flag after the narrow circuit became blocked. Benavides was hospitalised following the incident; early broadcast images showed several drivers walking from their cars and initial reports suggested no other serious injuries.

Race control deployed a second Safety Car after contact between Théophile Naël, Freddie Slater and Ernesto Rivera; Slater was later given a 10-second penalty. Yamakoshi defended through the restarts and built a clear advantage when green-flag racing resumed, winning by roughly one to two seconds.

Gerrard Xie finished second and Bruno del Pino third, with Pedro Clerot and Alessandro Giusti completing the top five. Ugo Ugochukwu remained the Drivers' Championship leader on 30 points, del Pino was second on 26, and Van Amersfoort Racing extended its Teams' Championship lead to 48 points.

Théophile Naël took pole for Sunday's Feature Race, which will start at 07:45 local time.