F3: Lorandi holds off Stroll for Pau GP victory

Alessio Lorandi withstood race-long pressure from Lance Stroll to win the Pau Grand Prix round of the Formula 3 European Championship.

The 17-year-old Italian, for whom this was the first win in car racing, converted his pole position into the lead at the start, and after that the Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen spent the entire race with Stroll's Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes filling its mirrors.

Stroll, who took the championship lead with his second place, often brought the gap to below half a second, but never quite got close enough to try a move. The Canadian Williams Formula 1 team protege made a concerted effort again near the end of the race when George Russell, who'd held third from the first corner, made rapid inroads on the leading duo, the Hitech Grand Prix driver setting fastest lap as he made it a leading trio. But Russell clipped a barrier and dropped back with a suspected slow puncture over the last two laps, and only just held on to third from Van Amersfoort Racing's Callum Ilott.

"This is very special," said Lorandi. "I got a lot of wheelspin at the start and I was lucky I could still close the door on Lance. After that he was putting pressure and pressure – I didn't want to risk too much and in the end I was struggling a little bit with the rear tires.

"We did a good job with Carlin, and qualifying was very important to put me in a good position."

Ten minutes were lost to a lengthy safety car after Nick Cassidy tried to squeeze up the inside of fellow second-row man Sergio Sette Camara at the opening kink. But the Brazilian didn't quite leave enough room, and Cassidy and Sette Camara careened into the barriers. Meanwhile, mid-grid man David Beckmann had clipped another car in the kink and slithered helplessly into the wreckage, causing chaos as several others got involved.

Mikkel Jensen (Mucke Motorsport) held fifth for the most of the race, but once Motopark man Joel Eriksson had passed America's Ryan Tveter around the outside into Gare he put Jensen under pressure throughout, the two Scandinavians completing the top six. Carlin driver Tveter held off Motopark-run Red Bull junior Niko Kari and T-Sport's Arjun Maini in the train for seventh.

Ben Barnicoat pitted under the early safety car and spent much of the race trying to prise the final point from Harrison Newey, but a mix-up between the two Brits and pre-race points leader Maximilian Gunther – who started from the back of the grid – allowed Pedro Piquet (VAR) to claim 10th after he also had pitted while the race was under caution.

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Originally on Autosport.com