Stanek storms to maiden F3 win in dramatic Imola feature race

Stanek initially took the lead from Zane Maloney but the latter reclaimed it into Turn 1.

Initially, the wet tyres were the correct call with Caio Collet and Franco Colapinto going from ninth and 12th on the grid respectively to first and second.

However, the track quickly dried and when the Safety Car was deployed on Lap 3, Collet and Colapinto were forced to pit to slicks.

Pepe Marti briefly took the lead after the Safety Car on the slicks but dropped down once the wet tyres dropped off.

The race turned on its head on Lap 10 with a second Safety Car period with Maloney leading Stanek and Bearman.

Maloney lost control of his car on the Safety Car restart in dramatic fashion, compromising Stanek which allowed Bearman to take the lead of the race.

The battle between Bearman and Stanek went down to the closing laps, with the Czech driver finally getting through on the penultimate lap to claim his first-ever F3 victory.

The drama continued behind Stanek with Bearman colliding with ART Grand Prix's Gregoire Saucy on the approach to the final corner, handing Jak Crawford second and Isack Hadjar third.

Bearman finished fourth but will likely pick up a penalty for his collision with Saucy, while Arthur Leclerc was fifth after another impressive recovery from outside of the top 10.

Kush Miani was a strong sixth for MP Motorsport ahead of Zak O'Sullivan and Kaylen Frederick.

David Vidales went from 27th on the grid to finish ninth, securing two points. Ido Cohen completed the top 10 for Jenzer.

Tight at the top

Despite not scoring in the feature race, Victor Martins remains top in the drivers' standings on 34 points.

He's level with Leclerc, who is also on 34 points.

Stanek is third on 33 points ahead of Crawford on 32 and then Hadjar on 31. 

Bearman (29 points) and Colapinto (22 points) round out the top seven.

Should Bearman pick up a penalty then Leclerc will take the lead of the standings