Finlay McSporran
Published: 14:49 18 July 2026

The Japanese driver secured his maiden win, as the top two in the championship came to blows at Spa Francorchamps.

Race Report

Nakamura lined up fourth on the grid for the sprint, behind Mattia Colnaghi and the Rodin pair of Pedro Clerot and Brando Badoer who locked out the front row.

The Hitech driver passed Colnaghi around the outside of turn one, and used the slipstream to get alongside and ahead of Clerot into the Le Combes chicane.

Behind then, Hiyu Yamakoshi was spun round by a late braking Ernesto Rivera. But that wasn’t the only incident on lap one…

Title rivals Freddie Slater and Ugo Ugochukwu were battling their way through the mid pack, and were side by side going through the chicane, when Ugochukwu lost control of his car, sending his rival into the barriers and out of the race, as the American limped back to the pits for repairs.

Racing resumed on lap four of 12, with Badoer leading Nakamura. However, as they headed down the Kemmel straight, Nakamura picked up the tow, going round the outside of the Rodin car to take the lead of the sprint race.

He wouldn’t have it easy though, as Badoer and Clerot remained in DRS range throughout the race, keeping Nakamura under constant pressure.

On lap eight, the safety car was deployed again after Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi went wide at turn one, hitting one of the polystyrene boards which spilt debris onto the track.

This gave an opportunity for Badoer to re-take the lead in the same way that Nakamura had done to him at the previous restart. However, Nakamura managed it well, as Badoer was forced to settle with second place.

Nakamura held his nerve, crossing the line to take his first win in Formula 3, and Hitech’s first win of the season! Rodin meanwhile, secured a double podium with Badoer and Clerot finishing second and third respectively.

Provisional Race Results:

Position	Driver	Team	Gap
1	Jin Nakamura	Hitech
2	Brando Badoer	Rodin	+0.9
3	Pedro Clerot	Rodin	+1.4
4	Mattia Colnaghi	MP Motorsport	+3.0
5	Taito Kato	ART	+3.3
6	Theophile Nael	Campos	+3.7
7	Tukka Taponen	MP Motorsport	+3.9
8	Ernesto Rivera	Campos	+4.5
9	Alessandro Guisti	MP Motorsport	+4.9
10	Noah Stromsted	Trident	+5.6
11	Christian Ho	Rodin	+6.2
12	Maciej Gladysz	ART	+6.8
13	Louis Sharp	Prema	+7.8
14	Nicola Lacorte	Dams	+7.8
15	Bruno Del Pino	Van Amersfoort	+8.2
16	James Wharton	Prema	+8.9
17	Yevan David	AIX	+9.9
18	Enzo Deligny	Van Amersfoort	+10.1
19	Kanato Le	ART	+10.2
20	Jose Garfias	Prema	+11.2
21	Fernando Barrichello	AIX	+11.4
22	Gerrard Xie	Dams	+12.1
23	Matteo De Palo	Trident	+12.5
24	Ricardo Escotto	AIX	+13.5
25	Fionn McLaughlin	Hitech	+13.8
26	Woohyun Shin	Hitech	+14.8
27	Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi	Dams	+16.1
28	Hiyu Yamokshi	Van Amersfoort	+16.8
29	Ugo Ugochukwu	Campos	+1L
30	Freddie Slater	Trident	DNF

Tags:

Formula 3

Road to F1