Press Releases - F3 Masters Season 32 Complete Review: Michael Damon Novikov beats Svilzester Szalonna and Chloe de St. Germain to the title

F3 Masters Season 32 Complete Review: Michael Damon Novikov beats Svilzester Szalonna and Chloe de St. Germain to the title

Sorry for not doing race by race review regularly guys because I've been super busy with personal stuff but I'm back to get this done and we've had some amazing races too, almost half of the races were wet too so it spiced things up big time. Now here are the short race by race reviews:

Race 1: Pau Sprint
Chloe de St. Germain took pole to almost lead a Female 1-2 with Karina Sette until Petter Solberg came through and split them. Laps from Ivan Kalinin 8th, Michael Damon Novikov and Bartolomeu Jarbas 16th and 17th respectively were promising but a mistake by every one of them ruined their chances of taking pole. 1 lap qualifying can be painful sometimes.
Race was wet and St. Germain led through from Solberg, Sette and Svilzester Szalonna fought for the final podium spot until the Hungarian found his way past. A safety car was deployed for Philip Goldberg who had a coming together with Alberto Latorre at the back and was out and it ruined the French Maiden's 5 second lead over the Viking. Novikov and Nannini came together which ended the race all together and let St. Germain take the win to kickstart the season, Solberg 2nd, Szalonna 3rd, Sette 4th, Reckziegel took the top 5 from Kalinin behind in the pits.

Race 2: Pau Feature
Race was dry and St. Germain led through the field to maybe repeat what she had done yesterday but the young Hungarian had different plans, once he got rid of Solberg for 2nd, he started to charge down the French Maiden tenth by tenth, a good pitstop was what he needed and he closed up about another second and half which could maybe lead to a potential final lap showdown but before the final lap, a massive lockup at Turn 10 sent St. Germain wide and Szalonna to take the lead alongwith the win of the race. Solberg took home a lonely 3rd place with Sette finished 4th from Kalinin. Mich

Championship Standings after Pau:
1. Chloe de St-Germain 45
2. Svilzester Szalonna 41
3. Petter Solberg Jr. 36
4. Karina Sette 26
5. Ivan Kalinin 21

Race 3: Monaco Sprint
Michael Damon Novikov was back in business, after a disasterous round at Pau, he came back stronger in a wet Monaco qualifying and took pole from Szalonna by 1 tenth. Another 3 tenths behind was Jarbas, St. Germain championship leader after Pau was in 4th, Nalbandian rounded out the top 5.
Novikov led the race as the field stayed almost same after the start, until on Lap 2, Thorsten Trips binned it at Racasse causing a instant safety car deployment, safety car was in and we went green again, Novikov leading the train from Szalonna, Jarbas and St. Germain all of these 4 fighting for the win, John Lawley who was running 6th tapped the wall at Massenet and his rear suspension was damaged enough to put him out of the race while at the back, a crash between Helio Da Matta Jr and Zebulon-Anatole Pips caused the safety car to be deployed once more and this time shake up the field as the leaders came into the pits, Joe Paulposichon, Petter Solberg and David Lumbreras Jr. all led themselves being vulnerable by staying out while Szalonna and Jarbas were both able to jump Novikov in the pits. Despite a tight train for the battle of the lead, Novikov was able to put an overtaking masterclass to take back what he had lost in the pit lane, flying past Jarbas in the tunnel before the braking zone first on Lap 33 then two laps later an aggressive shutdown move on Szalonna which saw the Hungarian drop out of the podium. But the young Russian superstar was able to take the win from Jarbas in 2nd who needed this result who like Novikov had a disaster at Pau, St. Germain was 3rd from Szalonna and Razor Rushman who was still in the train.

Live Championship:
1. St. Germain 61
2. Szalonna 54
3. Solberg Jr. 36
4. Kalinin 30
5. Sette 26
6. Novikov 25
7. Jarbas + Rushman 21

Round 4: Monaco Feature
Race started damp and the wet weather tyres were the tyres to be on, championship leader St. Germain got caught out by it and was one of the many first lap casualties with Yates and Da Matta who were both out of the race too, as the race progressed, the rain slowed down and stopped but it didn't stop us from having the safety car out on track, Thorsten Trips was on a rampage this afternoon, caused some first lap mayhem, til he got the safety car out again when he t-boned Bernando Reckziegel, field was getting shaked up too, and drivers were crashing out of the race, just gets to show you how tough Monaco is when a little bit of rain comes to play. Michael Damon Novikov was caught out by the strategy big time too until he tapped the wall at Swimming Pool section to become one of many cars to be out of the race and deployed the safety car once more, Szalonna and Jarbas were having a disasterous run too. John Lawley and Aleksantari Kokkonen played their cards right and found themselves in the fight for the win, title fight will be paused for a minute there, and there were rare drivers who could be scoring points here too.
The race ended with Szalonna breaking his front suspension while trying to make a very optimistic move on Latorre for P13 while Sette crashed out while being in the leading pack in the podium places, race ended under safety car with Lawley becoming our 4th different winner in 4 races after coming from the back of the field, Kokkonen finishing 2nd, Solberg Jr really put himself back in the title hunt with this well needed podium after being nowhere in the sprint race, passing both Bob Jones took P4 and Paolo Nannini P5. Paul Wizgey with his best result so far too behind, Nalbandian behind too after coming back from the field, Alan Kulwicki as well. Paulposichon and Rushman rounded out the top 10, Latorre, Pips, Muszynski, Suikkanen and Vincente all scored points too.

Standings:
1. St. Germain 61
2. Szalonna 54
3. Solberg 52
4. Lawley 44
5. Jones 31


Race 5: Zandvoort Sprint
Chloe de St. Germain took pole from Novikov to try and undo what happened at Monaco and as well retake full charge of the title fight. St. Germain led the first half from Novikov but Novikov had a huge scare at Turn 8 but held it together but increased his deficit to the French Maiden. St. Germain pitted first but had a really slow stop until Novikov pitted 2 laps later but with a quick stop, he found himself narrowly beating St. Germain onto the pit staright and completely the overcut to become the first repeat winner of the season.

Race 6: Zandvoort Feature
Novikov led the field but Rushman got infront of St. Germain at the start but Rushman was close to Novikov you could tell he was on a different strategy to the rest, 2 stopping while the others are 1 stopping. The American thought he had the race win in his hands until he encountered Jarbas and Szalonna who were both losing time cause they were scrapping for the podium, Rushman found his way past Szalonna until he was stuck behind a really overdefensive Jarbas, which became for 2nd with 5 laps to go because the tables had turned for the championship leader, St. Germain binned it coming into the Turn 7, lost it over a bump and crashed into the barriers. But there were no problems for Novikov after Rushman's 2 stopper had failed, who came through to take another win, Jarbas held on to 2nd from a fiesty Rushman behind. Szalonna taking another 4th place with Paul Carlotti rounding out the top 5.
Standings:
1. St. Germain 81
2. Szalonna 80
3. Novikov 75
4. Rushman 59
5. Lawley 55

Round 7: Spa Sprint
The championship fight just gotten hotter as you seen in the standings, Solberg was out of the equation after a shocker at Zandvoort and Novikov who had a bad start, came back on the bounce replaced him really, things are looking good for the Russ as he took pole from Rushman and St. Germain, but the race was soaking wet, Novikov learnt from his Monaco mistakes and actually put in a really dominant drive to win by over 30 seconds to Jarbas, St. Germain and Szalonna respectively, Lawley tried to overcut for the podium but it didn't work but at least he remained in the top 5. There weren't alot of casualties as well despite drivers struggling to stay on track, the only driver we lost was Suikkanen who had qualified in 8th but a horrible first lap saw him drop down to 26th until a collision with Hugo Vercammen ended his race brutally.

Race 8: Spa Feature
Novikov led the early parts until the rest of the top 4 with Szalonna, Jarbas and St. Germain coming to play and it became follow the leader and everyone had their turns until the ptistops, St. Germain pitted earlier which indicated she went for the 2 stop and left the boys to play eachother and pit later, Jarbas was out of the picture after the pitstops but St. Germain was stuck behind slower traffic for too long which ruined her chances and we were down to 2, Szalonna vs Novikov.
The two swapped places until Novikov confirmed it and took home his 4th win on the bounce, his 5th win in 6 races, Szalonna had to settle for 2nd while Jarbas held off a lighter St. Germain to take the final podium spot.
Standings:
1. Novikov 125
2. Szalonna 113
3. St. Germain 110
4. Jarbas 88
5. Rushman 79


Round 9: Macau Sprint
Szalonna took pole from St. Germain after mistakes from Novikov saw him down in 6th, things are about to get tasty here big time now.
Szalonna led the pack without issues but a mistake from Jarbas saw him drop out of the picture, The Hungarian was maintaining his gap from St. Germain the other championship rival, until the pitstops saw him extend his lead until that would be cut down when the safety car came out for John Lawley who crashed at San Francisco. Green flag was oout 3 laps to go and Szalonna just kept his head down and never looked back and took the win from Rushman who just gotten past St. Germain, with Novikov in 6th only, Szalonna led the championship by only 3 points, things are about to get tasty here. If Novikov was to win the title, this is a win or lose situation for both of them cause if one of them wins the race, they take the title with it. Margin is so small but the difference between the points is so big that anything can happen really. St. Germain isn't far behind, she's only 12 points behind.

Round 10: Macau Feature
Of course, we needed rain in the title decider, only 3 drivers can win the title (Novikov, Szalonna or St. Germain?)
Szalonna led but Novikov had an amazing start 6th to 4th while St. Germain dropped back to 5th from 3rd. But the midfield and the back was a mess, first Latorre and Yates came together at Turn 2 with the former in the barrier then Pasek and Wizgey came together at the hairpin and were both out on the spot, safety car was deployed and we didn't get going again til lap 7, Novikov was a man on a mission getting past Solberg and Rushman to get up to 2nd and put him closer to main championship rival Szalonna who leads the race at the moment. The rain was heavy but the race progresses, the rain slows down and it allowed Novikov to get back into rhythm to catch up again, take down a 9 second lead to less than a second in about 5-6 laps but how that would've turned out? We never knew cause the safety car was deployed this time for Jackson Ickx who found the wall again. Most drivers came into the pits, safety car came in and we went green again but Szalonna struggled for traction and soon became vulnerable to Novikov who took the race lead and maybe the championship away from him but the Hungarian tumbled down to 7th, this was good news for the Russian superstar, now he can focus on bringing home the championship but no, St. Germain came to play and took the race lead but she was nowhere near championship favourable position as Novikov was behind and had the provisional lead in it. Novikov worked hard to get the place back until on the penultimate lap, a bold move around the outside of the Lisboa Bend saw Novikov take the lead in style and he never looked back to take his 6th race win of the season and the championship with it too, St. Germain in 2nd, Paolo Nannini signed off F3 Masters with a podium, Rushman finished 4th while Sette rounded out the top 5.

Final Championship Standings:
1. Michael Damon Novikov *CHAMPION* 160
2. Svilzester Szalonna 148
3. Chloe de. St Germain 146
4. Razor Rushman III 112
5. Bartolomeu Jarbas 94
Full Standings Here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jBxrkc3XxXM_Z1ZxfS0QdOP1RAzzb3R1H-3_bVnEQTc/

Thank you for reading this, next up will be the driver by driver review which should be up tomorrow or next week and I will sort out the U24s, U22s and U19 standings on the spreadsheet too.