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Conditions swung repeatedly from wet to dry, favouring slick or wet-shod runners throughout what proved to be a 20-lap race.
Callum Voisin had crossed the line first, but a penalty dropped him to third as Lindblad won from Gabriele Mini.
Australian Tommy Smith recorded a career-best result in fourth as he opted for slicks, while Christian Mansell on wets finished 13th, and James Wharton 20th.
Rain threatened as the field formed on the grid, prompting most to swap from slicks onto wets.
However, not everyone did, with a raft of drivers ducking into the pits at the end of the formation to swap back to slicks.
The race began with a third of the field in the pits, Browning heading the field from pole as Mansell slipped to eighth.
Voisin was one of the few to have started on slicks, the Rodin driving rising to fourth from eighth by the time the Safety Car was called as the field headed down Hangar Straight.
Cian Shields had stopped early in the lap to trigger the interruption while allowing those who’d pitted on the formation lap to catch the field.
Alex Dunne and Charlie Wurz pitted under the Safety Car, Mansell gaining a place as a result.
The biggest mover on the opening lap was Wisnicki, who was 13th having started 30th and last on the grid.
Browning led the field to the green flag at the start of Lap 3, the top three on wet tyres with Voisin fourth on slicks on a near bone dry track.
The Rodin driver quickly picked off Esterson and Leo Fornaroli before performing a switchback on Browning out of Luffied to lead the race.
Those on slicks were carving through the field rapidly, Mansell not among their number as he slipped to 12th by the end of Lap 3, while James Wharton had dropped from 18th to 28th and Tommy Smith rose to 11th.
A crash from Sophia Floersch saw the Safety Car called for the second time as she crashed on the Wellington Straight.
As it was called, Voisin held an eight second lead, with Tim Tramnitz passing Browning for second seconds before the race was neutralised.
Tramnitz boxed at the end of the lap, swapping back onto the wets.
It was a gamble that offered huge dividends as the weather closed in – those who’d started on wets had burned their tyres up early ahead of the rain falling while those on slicks would likely soon begins to struggle for grip on the damp track.
Floersch had wiped herself across the front of Dino Beganovic’s car, jinking left as Dunne, who’d been off the road at Aintree, rejoined aggressively.
A lap after Tramnitz boxed, and with the Safety Car still at the head of the race, the pack headed into the lane.
Voisin was not among their number, remaining on track despite the wet track.
In the flurry of pit stops, Smith found himself sixth with Wharton 16th, Mansell losing badly as he ran 27th in the Safety Car train.
Voisin’s task out front was made more difficult when he was handed a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while passing Esterson at the previous restart.
It remained unclear which tyre strategy was best as the rain came and went, with a mixture of approaches in the top 10, as the race restarted on Lap 8.
With much more group, Browning took the lead as Voisin plummeted down the field, as did his fellow slick shod runners.
Browning ended the lap in the lead from Fornaroli and Esterson, while Voisen slumped to 21st.
In the pack, three cars came together exiting Stowe, with Dunne, Sebastian Montoya, and Joshua Dufek all involved to trigger a third Safety Car.
By the time it had emerged, Wharton ran eighth while Mansell gained 13 places to sit 15th while Smith had gone the other way to hold 24th after the single lap of racing.
The pits were closed under the stoppage as Montoya’s car had come to a rest across the entry.
Dunne and Montoya were both eliminated, the latter heavily impacting the barrier while Dunne was innocent, involved as he took evasive action.
Dufek had limped his car back into the lane where it was retired.
Under the Safety Car, the weather had eased once more though was forecast to increased before the end of the race.
By the time racing resumed, it had become a time certain affair, with 13 minutes remaining as Browning led the pack to the green flag.
It was a more composed start this time around, the track favouring those on wet tyres.
At the end of the lap, Browning led from Fornaroli and Noel Leon, with Wharton eighth and Mansell 10th.
However, the ART driver was elbowed out of the way at Aintree by teammate Nikola Tsolov, dropping him behind Beganovic in the process.
The conditions soon turned and the slicks, once up to temperature, began to hold the edge once more.
Voisin and Gabriele Mini were storming through the field, the former in fourth at the end of Lap 15 while Mansell had dropped to 13th, and Wharton 17th.
On slicks, Smith was making progress too as he climbed back up to 16th in what proving to be an incredibly topsy-turvy encounter.
By the end of the following lap, Voisin led the race once more with Mini third. Browning slipped to fourth as Lindblad sat second.
Browning’s slide continued as he fell behind Smith on Lap 17, the Australian running fourth and on course of a career-best result.
Voisin hung on to take the chequered flag, but with Lindblad and Mini close behind he fell to third.
Smith held on to claim a career-best fourth place and his first points in Formula 3.
Pole sitter Browning fell to eighth while Mansell was 13th and Wharton 21st after one of the most chaotic races on record.
