Tuukka Taponen takes win in F3 finale at Madrid; drivers' champion crowned
MP Motorsport's Tuukka Taponen took his first Formula 3 victory in the season finale at Madrid, converting his pole position into victory with a controlled drive. He remained untroubled after cutting across to defend from championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu at the start.
As for Ugochukwu, finishing second meant he took home the Drivers' Championship, marking a landmark for season for Campos Racing, who had sealed the Constructors' Championship a day prior. The American driver converted his second position at the start to a podium, ensuring he sealed the title from Trident's Freddie Slater in a Madrid showdown.
The Trident man only finished eighth on the road, making the most of a difficult weekend, and ensuring he finished second in the drivers' standings.
Rounding out the podium for Feature Race 2 was Rodin Motorsport's Pedro Clerot, ahead of ART's Taito Kato. MP Motorsport ended the season on a high, with Mattia Colnaghi and Alessandro Giusti finishing fifth and sixth on the road.
VAR's Enzo Deligny finished up in seventh, ahead of Slater, while Campos' Ernesto Rivera came home ninth ahead of AIX Racing's Yevan David.
AS IT UNFOLDED - F3 Feature Race 2 at the Madring
Formula 3's unusual weekend format at Madrid had arguably shaped as the curtain raisers to set up a thrilling finale on Sunday morning.
Championship leader Freddie Slater had a disastrous qualifying, lining up only 17th for the pair of Saturday races after facing car troubles, while his closest contender Ugo Ugochukwu started up in fourth and ninth for both races.
With the Campos man finishing eighth and fourth, and accumulating 15 points, he took over the lead of the standings going into Sunday. Albeit, both drivers entered the final race weekend level on points, with Ugochukwu ahead on having an extra sprint win compared to Slater.
The British driver failed to score on Saturday, finishing 18th in the sprint before an incident in Feature Race 1 saw him spin out at Turn 19, seeing his advantage wither away in the heat of Madrid.
Both drivers lined up in the top 10 for Sunday's Feature Race 2 though, with Slater in eighth, six places behind Ugochukwu who lined up on the front row for the Feature Race. MP Motorsport's Tuukka Taponen lined up on pole for the first time in 2026.
The Finnish driver wasted no time in going defensive off the five red lights, cutting across in a bid to stop the Campos man's fast start. Unlike the first Feature Race of the weekend on Saturday, the grid made it through Lap 1 unscathed, in a welcome sign for both championship contenders.
Slater, though, had lost one position to the fast-starting AIX Racing car of Yevan David, dropping to ninth and facing pressure from the other Campos of Ernesto Rivera.
With overtaking challenging around the Madring, all eyes were on Slater to see if he was able to pull off any moves at an unusual spot around the circuit. An opportunity presented itself off Turn 5, with David chasing down seventh-placed Enzo Deligny, but no chance for Slater to move past.
The Trident man pulled off a daring overtake to reclaim eighth on David's AIX Racing car, going into Turn 2, with nothing to lose, as he quickly closed in on the cars ahead on Lap 5.
A brief yellow flag flew for a stricken DAMS car of Nandhavud Bhirombakdi, but the Thai driver managed to get going again, only suffering damage to his front wing as he retreated to the pit lane.
At the halfway mark, Taponen still led the field from Ugochukwu and the Rodin of Pedro Clerot, Feature Race 1 winner on Saturday still in third. But despite only 2.5 seconds separating Slater in eighth from Ugochukwu in second, overtaking proved difficult, due to the tight confines of the Madring circuit and the drivers all in a DRS train.
Slater's attempts to move past Deligny on Lap 10 proved unsuccessful, the VAR driver firmly defending into Turn 8.
The laps counted down, though, with the Trident man still unable to make headway, even as Ugochukwu sat comfortably in second, and arguably in the prime position to take the drivers' championship as well for Campos.
David, pushing hard to close down Slater for eighth, experienced a moment of oversteer through Turns 18 and 19, losing ninth to Rivera on Lap 16, instead fending off Brando Badoer for the final point.
Any charge for the drivers to round out the season came to an end, with a late race safety car on Lap 17, called out for the stricken VAR of Hiyu Yamakoshi, on the run up to Turn 8.
With the marshalls able to slide Yamakoshi's car down the uphill section, the track was clear, allowing for a last-lap dash around the Madring. Despite a brief yellow flag for the PREMA of José Garfias, and Ugochukwu slightly further off Taponen, it would be to no avail.
Taponen became the first Finnish winner in Formula 3, ensuring he climbed up to third in the standings. MP Motorsport may have finished third in the standings, but there was greater joy down at Campos, who sealed the drivers' title as well, with Ugochukwu finishing second.
Classification - F3 Feature Race 2 (Madrid)
Tuukka Taponen (MP Motorsport)
Ugo Ugochukwu (Campos Racing)
Pedro Clerot (Rodin Motorsport)
Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix)
Mattia Colnaghi (MP Motorsport)
Alessandro Giusti (MP Motorsport)
Enzo Deligny (VAR)
Freddie Slater (Trident)
Ernesto Rivera (Campos Racing)
Yevan David (AIX Racing)
Brando Badoer (Rodin Motorsport)
Théophile Naël (Campos Racing)
Alex Powell (PREMA Racing)
Fionn McLaughlin (Hitech)
Jin Nakamura (Hitech)
James Wharton (PREMA Racing)
Matteo De Palo (Trident)
Bruno del Pino (VAR)
Kanato Le (ART Grand Prix)
Nicola Lacorte (DAMS)
Noah Strømsted (Trident)
Maciej Gładysz (ART Grand Prix)
Fernando Barrichello (AIX Racing)
Niccolò Maccagnani (Rodin Motorsport)
Michael Shin (Hitech)
José Garfias (PREMA Racing)
Nandhavud Bhirombakdi (DAMS)
Hiyu Yamakoshi (VAR) - DNF
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