Mucke Motorsport’s Felix Rosenqvist overcame a error under safety car to charge to an emphatic and brilliant victory at Silverstone in the second FIA European Formula 3 race of the weekend.
In the middle distance, Raffaele Marciello picked up 2nd place following an early off, while Lucas Auer completed the podium despite a poor start.
Following a start line clash that neutralised the field for three laps, Rosenqvist made a slow getaway at the restart, allowing Harry Tincknell (Carlin) and Will Buller (T-Sport) through to assume the front two positions.
Rosenqvist held his nerve through the following laps, eventually catching and passing Buller with a truly sublime move around the around of Brooklands on the eighth tour. The Mucke man had been eyeing up the move for several corners, as he darted in and out of Buller’s sight line, used his mainly orange liveried machine to distract the Northern Irish racer.
Once dispatched, Rosenqvist drew up to the rear of Tincknell, pressurising the Englishman, before attempting – unsuccessfully – to move around the outside of Brooklands and Copse.
Not to be deterred, Rosenqvist caught Tincknell once again and finally made a move stick on lap ten – again around the outside of Brooklands, only in this instance, Tincknell made the pass a tough one.
Using all of the road to defend, Rosenqvist ran slightly wide as Luffield unfolded; however the 21-year-old kept his line, barging by the Englishman. From there, Rosenqvist was untroubled from behind, increasing his lead to the next man to 4.9 seconds, before easing up in the final tours. “I had a good start, but I messed up the restart after the safety car. I reckon, I should have read the regulations better and I apologise for this move,” said a somewhat embarrassed race winner. He continued, “After that, I was determined to win this race at all costs. My car was fast and I was able to overtake William Buller and Harry Tincknell. The move against Harry was a close one, but I knew that I wouldn’t have many chances and I had to use this one.”
Marciello’s run up the order was somewhat more adventurous. An off at Brooklands on the opening lap dropped the Italian to 9th; however that immediately became 6th when Sven Muller missed his braking point, but not Mans Grenhagen and Nicholas Latifi at the restart.
Moves on Josh Hill (lap 5), Tom Blomqvist (lap 11) and Tincknell (lap 15) followed, with the final position coming when on the eleventh lap Buller dipped a tyre on a wet patch in Village, spinning the T-Sport driver around. Despite his scything through the field, Marciello thought his race a conservative one: “After the start, I was second, but then I made a mistake and I dropped back to ninth. After the safety car, I was able to make up a few places again. However, I didn’t want to take too many risks, because I didn’t want to risk a non-score.”
For Auer, the Austrian almost stalled in 1st gear off the start line, dropping to 11th place in the process. Like Marciello, Auer picked up three spots from the Muller / Grenhagen / Latifi tangle, before he too scythed by Jordan King (lap 7), Hill (lap 9), Buller (during his spin), Blomqvist (lap 12) and Tincknell (also on lap 15).
It was a result that left the Austrian very happy: “My start was quite good, but then my car was stuck in first gear and I lost a few positions. After the safety car had left the track again, I was able to move up to the front, together with my team-mate Raffaele. I am very happy with third place.”
Tincknell would eventually claim 4th spot, although under the focus of Blomqvist (5th), Alex Lynn (6th) and Hill (7th) – all of whom were covered by 1.2 seconds at the flag.
It was quite a comeback for Lynn as well – the Englishman spun on the opening lap, falling from 2nd to 9th, but he began to peel his way back up the order. Lynn made a last lap move on Hill to depose the Englishman; a disappointment, considering Hill had started in 16th spot.
Pipo Derani took more points home with 8th, ahead of the recovering Buller (9th), while Eddie Cheever rounded out the top ten.
The initial safety car period came about when Double R’s Antonio Giovinazzi stalled on the grid, only to be rear ended by Felix Serralles, who was then clipped by Jann Mardenborough.
2013 FIA European F3 Championship (Rd 2, Race 2; 18 laps)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 36m10.418s
2. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc + 3.507s
3. Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc + 5.069s
4. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW + 8.227s
5. Tom Blomqvist Eurointernational Dallara-Merc + 8.326s
6. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc + 9.077s
7. Josh Hill Fortec Dallara-Merc + 9.466s
8. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc + 12.645s
9. Will Buller T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 13.289s
10. Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Merc + 14.808s
11. Michael Lewis Mucke Dallara-Merc + 15.323s
12. Dennis van der Laar Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW + 16.970s
13. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc + 21.843s
14. Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Merc + 24.127s
15. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 24.730s
16. Sean Geleal Double R Dallara-Merc + 27.346s
17. Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW + 37.145s
18. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc + 42.443s
19. Tatiana Calderan Double R Dallara-Merc + 45.177s
20. Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Merc + 50.793s
Retirements:
Mans Grenhagen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 15 laps
Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW 14 laps
Gary Thompson Ferraris Dallara-Merc 14 laps
Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW 3 laps
Sven Muller Ma-con Dallara-VW 2 laps
Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 0 laps
Antonio Giovanazzi Double R Dallara-Merc 0 laps
Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW 0 laps
2013 FIA European Formula 3 Championship (Rd 2, Race 2) Drivers' Championship Pos Driver Points 1. Raffaele Marciello 81.5 2. Harry Tincknell 61 3. Felix Rosenqvist 52 4. Lucas Auer 51 5. Pascal Wehrlein 49 6. Alex Lynn 45.5 7. Tom Blomqvist 26.5 8. Will Buller 23 9. Felix Serralles 18 10. Pipo Derani 11 Teams' Championship Pos Team Points 1. Prema Powerteam 135 2. Mucke Motorsport 109 3. Carlin 80 4. Fortec 46 5. ThreeBond w/T-Sport 35
