“Nobody wins opening F3 Norisring race after Juncadella disqualified” (updated)

© SRO.

In one for the anoraks, no one won the opening Formula 3 race at Norisring this weekend, following the disqualification of original winner Daniel Juncadella.

Carlin’s Will Buller, who finished 2nd on the road, kept his 2nd position; however the record book will show a blank space next to the “winning driver” slot.

Juncadella was running 2nd behind Mücke Motorsport’s Pascal Wehrlein on lap 39, when he missed his braking point into the sharp turn one, slipping into the side of the innocent Wehrlein – Juncadella continued, while Wehrlein dropped to 7th spot.

Wehrlein may well have fallen further had it not been for an immediate call for the safety car. With only two minutes remaining in the event, the race director brought out the red flag, ending the race.
Juncadella jumped into the lead from the start; however the Spaniard began suffering problems as the race aged, due to heavy wear suffered by the right rear tyres of his his Mercedes-powered machine. Wehrlein stayed glued to Juncadella throughout, eventually taking the lead on lap 34.

The later accident was not the only collision Juncadella was involved in – on the same lap as his collision with Wehrlein, the Prema man was also clashed with teammate and title challenger Raffaele Marciello.
As the Italian began to draft around the outside of his teammate on the approach to the final corner, the pair glanced wheels, spinning Marciello into the unforgiving wall, breaking his front wing.
Juncadella again continued; however the wounded Marciello made only as far as the turn 2 / 3 chicane, before sliding into the wall at the exit.
Regardless of Juncadella’s penalty, it proved a disappointing ending for Marciello. The Italian had started on pole, only to drop to 5th after a poor getaway. Moves on Bernstorff (lap 11) and Buller (lap 19) made that 3rd, before he latched on to the leading duo.

With both Wehrlein and Marciello removed from the action, Juncadella temporarily inherited the win when the red flag was introduced at the end of lap 42, but was excluded ninety minutes later.

All the action action ahead promoted Buller (who enjoyed a relatively quiet race) to 2nd – a position he maintained despite Juncadella’s exclusion, while Emil Bernstorff took a hard-earned first podium of the season in 3rd.
Pietro Fantin’s finished 4th – the Brazilian being the first of the British F3 runners. The Carlin man spent the running challenging Bernstorff, but struggled to find the Englishman’s breaking point.
Fortec’s Felix Serralles took 5th overall ahead Mücke Motorsport pair Felix Rosenqvist (6th) and the hobbling Wehrlein.

Harry Tincknell took an encouraging 8th for Carlin. The Englishman beat Sven Muller and Tom Blomqvist after several laps trapped behind the sluggish Sandro Zeller.
Geoff Uhrhane and Nick McBride drove solid races to 12th and 13th, although the latter was lucky to come away unscathed following a mid-race bump with Philip Ellis. For his troubles, Ellis retired although that had more to do with hitting the turn three wall earlier in the lap.

Jack Harvey took a lucky 14th in a race that included a collision, a drive through penalty and a damaged front wing. It fell apart for Harvey on the opening tour, when the Lincolnshire man climbed the turn one kerb, collecting teammate Jazeman Jaafar in the process.
Damaged, Harvey pushed Jaafar into the first lap pack, forcing Alex Lynn (Fortec) and Lucas Wolf (URD) wide and into a crash of their own. Lynn pitted for a new front wing; however Wolf’s Dallara was beyond repair.

The opening lap also saw Carlos Sainz Jr hit the wall at exit of turn three, ending his race there and then. All these incidents brought out a four-lap long safety car period, as debris and broken machines littered the bumpy streets.

Prema Powerteam’s American pilot Michael Lewis also found himself in a spot of bother at turn one. Two laps after the restart, Lewis slid into the side of Derani in turn one, causing both to drop out with damage. The clash pushed Hannes van Asseldonk (Fortec) and Muller wide, with the latter losing time and positions.
Van Asseldonk lost his front wing in his attempt to escape the crash.

2012 European F3 Championship (Rd 5, race 1, 42 laps)
(also British F3 (Rd 6) & F3 Euro Series (Rd 4) 
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
DSQ. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc 37m11.584s
 2.  Will Buller           Carlin Dallara-VW         + 1.854s
 3.  Emil Bernstorff       Ma-Con Dallara-VW         + 2.963s
 4.  Pietro Fantin         Carlin Dallara-VW         + 3.574s
 5.  Felix Serralles       Fortec Dallara-Merc       + 4.868s
 6.  Felix Rosenqvist      Mucke Dallara-Merc        + 6.152s
 7.  Pascal Wehrlein       Mucke Dallara-Merc       + 13.241s
 8.  Harry Tincknell       Carlin Dallara-VW        + 13.671s
 9.  Sven Muller           Prema Dallara-Merc       + 13.949s
10.  Tom Blomqvist         Ma-Con Dallara-VW        + 14.538s
11.  Sandro Zeller         Zeller Dallara-Merc      + 20.855s
12.  Geoff Uhrhane         Double R Dallara-Merc    + 21.832s
13.  Nick McBride          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   + 22.399s
14.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW        + 22.637s
15.  Luis Sa Silva         Angola Dallara-Merc      + 23.242s
16.  Andrea Roda           Zeller Dallara-Merc        + 1 lap
17.  Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen      + 1 lap
18.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW          + 1 lap
19.  Alex Lynn             Fortec Dallara-Merc        + 1 lap
20.  Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc        + 1 lap
21.  Duvashen Padayachee   Double R Dallara-Mugen    + 2 laps
Retirements:
     Raffaelle Marciello   Prema Dallara-Merc         39 laps
     Philip Ellis          GU Dallara-Merc            17 laps
     Fahmi Ilyas           Double R Dallara-Merc       7 laps
     Michael Lewis         Prema Dallara-Merc          7 laps
     Pipo Derani           Fortec Dallara-Merc         6 laps
     Carlos Sainz Jr       Carlin Dallara-VW            1 lap
     Lucas Wolf            URD Dallara-Merc            0 laps

Bold = British F3
Italics = British F3 National Class

2012 FIA European F3 Championship (Rd 5, Race 1)
Drivers Championship
Pos Driver Points
 1. Raffaele Marciello    137
 2. Daniel Juncadella     115
 3. Carlos Sainz Jr        96
 4. Will Buller            85
 5. Felix Rosenqvist       68 
 6. Pascal Wehrlein        64
 7. Sven Muller            51
 8. Michael Lewis          49
 9. Tom Blomqvist          32
10. Emil Bernstorff        20
2012 British F3 Series (Rd 6, Race 1)
International Class
Pos Driver Points
 1. Jazeman Jaafar        178
 2. Jack Harvey           174
 3. Felix Serralles       140
 4. Carlos Sainz Jr       137
 5. Alex Lynn             126
 6. Pietro Fantin         115
 7. Harry Tincknell       105
 8. Pipo Derani            92
 9. Hannes van Asseldonk   59
10. Nick McBride           52
National Class
Pos Driver Points
 1. Spike Goddard         228
 2. Duvashen Padayachee   202
 3. Adderly Fong           62
2012 Formula 3 Euro Series (Rd 4, race 1)
Drivers' Championship
Pos Driver Points
 1. Daniel Juncadella     109
 2. William Buller        106
 3. Raffaele Marciello    104 
 4. Pascal Wehrlein        84
 5. Carlos Sainz Jr        82
 6. Sven Muller            81
 7. Felix Rosenqvist       69
 8. Michael Lewis          67
 9. Tom Blomqvist          58
10. Emil Bernstroff        29

Teams' Championship
Pos Team Points
 1. Prema Powerteam       289
 2. Carlin                188
 3. Mucke Motorsport      153
 4. ma-con Motorsport      87
 5. Jo Zeller Racing       21
Yep. P1 is blank.

Leave a Reply