Mücke Motorsport’s Felix Rosenqvist led from start-to-finish at the Hockenheimring this morning to third European Formula 3 championship win of the season.
Pascal Wehrlein claimed the runner-up spot ahead of Raffaele Marciello, following an engine failure for championship leader Daniel Juncadella, ensuring the title battle continues.
Rosenqvist held off a charge from Prema Powerteam rival Juncadella on the opening lap, before eking out a small gap over the Spaniard.
The gap had been maintained at just over one second during the opening dozen laps, until the confident Rosenqvist drew away from Juncadella. For his part, Juncadella had been fighting hard to win the title as early in the weekend as possible.
Having pulled close to Juncadella in the exiting the long turn seven curve, the reigning Macau Grand Prix victor sneaked down the inside of Rosenqvist at Mercedes bend.
Pinned to a tight exit, Juncadella could not maintain the traction, allowing Rosenqvist to assume the front once again as they exited turn ten together. For the leading pair, there was no looking back; for those in the pack, there was merely chaos.
As the pack approached the Mercedes corner, Wehrlein held the middle of the road, catching Carlos Sainz Jr unawares. Some quick thinking allowed the Carlin rookie to miss Wehrlein’s rear, but Sainz Jr was not as lucky.
Immediately behind the Spaniard was Emil Bernstorff, who simply had nowhere to go, except into Sainz Jr’s left rear.
Both Alex Lynn (Fortec) and Dennis van der Laar (van Amersfoort) were also collected in the melee – they continued; Sainz Jr did not. Bernstorff picked up a drive through penalty for his troubles.
Not that it mattered to Rosenqvist – he just kept leading from the front; Juncadella was there, but not a threat. And then the gap grew…
From 1.4 seconds at the halfway mark, to three seconds four tours later (helped somewhat by an off-track excursion for Juncadella), before the gap extended to four seconds by lap 21 – then suddenly, Juncadella was gone!!
With less than nineteen kilometres left to run, the Mercedes powerplant in the rear of Juncadella’s car began to sound strange. The once piercing and clear tone had been replaced by deeper, soggy note – pottering rather than singing.
As Rosenqvist flew, Juncadella fell down the order, allowing Wehrlein and Marciello to rise to 2nd and 3rd respectively. With Juncadella dropping to 13th on the final lap, the championship he was looking to sow up early on a Saturday, was now wide open.
Neither Wehrlein nor Marciello had the most thrilling of races. Both brought and fought off challenges, but neither were drawn into battle for longer than brief spells. Tom Blomqvist came home 4th for ma-con Motorsport and while he shadowed Marciello, the threat was always distant and lingering as opposed to anything more immediate.
If anything, Blomqvist can lay claim to a stunning first lap that saw him avoid the carbon fibre marriage and rise from 10th to 5th in the space of a few turns.
Sven Müller finished 5th after a very impressive display. The German started on the sixth row and climbed to 9th by the end of the opening tour. Moves on Lucas Auer (van Amersfoort), William Buller (Carlin, lap 4) and Bernstorff (ma-con, lap 8) promoted the rookie to 6th, before Juncadella misfortune gave Müller another spot.
Buller ended the morning 6th ahead of the impressive Auer {note 1}, while Lucas Wolf took 8th and the reverse grid pole for this afternoon encounter.
Michael Lewis finished 9th in his Prema-Powerteam entry, some five seconds up on Fortec’s Pipo Derani. Bernstorff would end up 11th after his penalty, with Andrea Roda finished 12th and the last of the lead lap runners.
Van der Laar rejoined the action after his opening lap difficulties to trail around one lap in arrears of the field. Sandro Zeller ended the day 15th despite clumsily clattering in to the side of Luis Sá Silva in the Sachskurve on the fourth lap.
Both Felix Serralles and Felipe Nasr retired during the event due to car difficulties, while Lynn could not recover from his opening lap clash.
{note 1}
This is Auer’s debut in the Formula 3 Euro Series, having finished runner-up in the ADAC German Formula 3 Cup earlier this year.
2012 F3 Euro Series / FIA European F3 championship (Rd 8 / 10; Race 1)
Pos Driver Team Time / Gap
1. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Motorsport-Mercedes 39:45.135 (25 laps)
2. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Motorsport-Mercedes +5.658
3. Raffaele Marciello Prema Powerteam-Mercedes +8.551
4. Tom Blomqvist ma-con-Volkswagen +11.174
5. Sven Muller Prema Powerteam-Mercedes +11.938
6. William Buller Carlin-Volkswagen +24.386
7. Lucas Auer van Amersfoort-Volkswagen +27.672
8. Lucas Wolf URD Rennsport-Mercedes +33.938
9. Michael Lewis Prema Powerteam-Mercedes +34.690
10. Pipo Derani Fortec-Mercedes +39.717
11. Emil Bernstorff ma-con-Volkswagen +40.045
12. Andrea Roda Jo Zeller-Mercedes +54.952
13. Daniel Juncadella Prema Powerteam-Mercedes +1 lap
14. Dennis van der Laar van Amersfoort-Volkswagen +1 lap
15. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller-Mercedes +1 lap
16. Felix Serralles Fortec-Mercedes +4 laps
Retirements
Felipe Nasr Carlin-Volkswagen +15 laps
Alex Lynn Fortec-Mercedes +16 laps
Luis Sa Silva Angola Team-Mercedes +21 laps
Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin-Volkswagen +24 laps
2012 FIA European F3 Championship (Rd 10; Race 1) Pos Driver Points 1. Daniel Juncadella 240 2. Raffaele Marciello 224.5 3. Felix Rosenqvist 167 4. Carlos Sainz Jr 161 5. Pascal Wehrlein 161 6. Will Buller 137 7. Tom Blomqvist 111 8. Sven Muller 101 9. Michael Lewis 100 10. Emil Bernstorff 64 2012 F3 Euro Series (Rd 8; Race 1) Pos Driver Points 1. Daniel Juncadella 225 2. Pascal Wehrlein 208 3. Raffaele Marciello 203.5 4. Tom Blomqvist 185.5 5. Will Buller 177.5 6. Sven Muller 150 7. Tom Blomqvist 143.5 8. Michael Lewis 123 9. Carlos Sainz Jr 110 10. Emil Bernstorff 84
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