Harry Tincknell claimed his first FIA European Formula 3 race win of the season at a cool and windy Silverstone circuit.
During a race that started slightly damp, the Englishman led from start to finish, although it was no easy victory for the Carlin racer, thanks to the lurking Alex Lynn (Prema Powerteam).
Felix Rosenqvist made it three different teams on the podium when he brought his Mücke Motorsport entry home in 3rd place.
The result could have been quite different had Rosenqvist completed an early race move on Tincknell. Upon exiting through Copse on the opening tour, the Swede capitalised on a Tincknell’s sluggish exit from Woodcote, allowing the Mücke man to run pair ran wheel-to-wheel with his Carlin rival.
It was a result that left Tincknell, quite obviously, delighted. “I am really happy with this victory here at Silverstone. The race wasn’t easy, because Alex kept me under pressure behind me. But my car was great and I didn’t make any mistakes. That was particularly important in the opening laps, because the track was still damp and slippery at that time.”
Holding his line, Tincknell kept the lead, while also squeezing – politely – Rosenqvist onto the damp patch exiting Copse, allowing Lynn to slide through in the 2nd place on the approach into Beckett’s – a wonderfully opportunistic move.
Beaten to the position, Rosenqvist began to slip back from the leading pair; however the Swede was quite circumspect about the result: “At the start, I was able to overtake Alex, but then I made a slight mistake and he overtook me again. However, I also have to admit that Harry and Alex were quicker and I wasn’t able to keep up with them. Now, we have to try and make the car a little bit quicker for the next two races.”
The gaps grew from three-tenths to five-tenths to seven-tenths, before shrinking back down again when Lynn pressed, but in the cool temperatures the Prema racer was unable to break the confident Tincknell.
“I am slightly disappointed, because I could have done better. Unfortunately, my starting grid position was at the more damp part of the grid, therefore Felix was able to overtake me.” Lynn added that “Later on, Harry didn’t make any mistakes and thus didn’t give me an opportunity to overtake him. Of course, being British, Harry and I have already done many races here at Silverstone and therefore, perhaps we have a slight advantage.”
Realistically, there were issues of tyre wear for much of the field, exemplified by the sight of near shredded rubber from the Hankook’s as they returned to their garages – and as the grip peeled away lap-by-lap, so did the consistency of the times.
Lucas Auer was one of the few to make his tyres work close to the end – a surprise considering his mostly race long battle with Raffaele Marciello and Will Buller.
The Austrian Auer dropped to 7th at the start (from 6th), as Buller took advantage. The trio fought tooth and nail for the opening two-thirds, passing-and-repassing and in some instances shoving and reshoving.
Indeed the tussle between Buller and Marciello became quite intense, allowing Auer through for the final time. Skipping off into the distance, Auer chased after the quick starting Nicholas Latifi, taking the Canadian for 4th spot with two laps to spare.
Running quickly early on hampered Latifi’s late run – from the inside of the third row, the Carlin racer passed Marciello off the line, holding 4th until Auer’s attack. Latifi may well have dropped another position had the race been much longer than 18 laps.
With his tyres in dire state, Latifi lost a six-second lead over Marciello in the space of four laps, and only edged the Italian by three—tenths over the line.
Buller settled for 7th ahead of the charging Felix Serralles who excellent drive to 8th from his 16th starting position will leave him rueing a poor qualifying session.
Serralles made the most of the conditions to sweep past Jordan King (Carlin), Pipo Derani (Fortec) and Tom Blomqvist (EuroInternational) in the latter half of the race, but it may have a far most competitive outcome had his starting position been higher up.
Derani ended the race 9th, with Blomqvist 10th as King’s pace fell away in the late tours, ensuring the Carlin racer came away with no reward for a good drive. Antonio Giovinazzi was disqualified post-race when it was discovered his Double R machine did not have enough fuel left to sample.
2013 FIA European F3 Championship (Rd 2, Race 1, 18 laps)
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 34m28.267s
2. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc + 0.960s
3. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc + 4.435s
4. Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc + 6.889s
5. Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW + 10.276s
6. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc + 10.528s
7. Will Buller T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 14.869s
8. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc + 19.915s
9. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc + 22.555s
10. Tom Blomqvist Eurointernational Dallara-Merc + 23.287s
11. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW + 25.482s
12. Sven Muller Ma-con Dallara-VW + 26.772s
13. Michael Lewis Prema Dallara-Merc + 30.777s
Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc + 31.397s (DSQ)
14. Mans Grenhagen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW + 35.629s
15. Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Merc + 35.829s
16. Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW + 38.649s
17. Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW + 40.691s
18. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc + 40.895s
19. Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Merc + 49.754s
20. Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW + 55.087s
21. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc + 55.650s
22. Tatiana Calderon Double R Dallara-Merc + 1m04.650s
23. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 1 lap
24. Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc + 1 lap
25. Gary Thompson Ferraris Dallara-Merc + 2 laps
26. Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Merc + 4 laps
Retirements:
Josh Hill Fortec Dallara-Merc 11 laps
Notes:
Penalties
Antionio Giovinazzi disqualified post-race for not having enough fuel to provide a sample.
2013 FIA European Formula 3 Championship (Rd 2, Race 1) Drivers' Championship Pos Driver Points 1. Raffaele Marciello 63.5 2. Pascal Wehrlein 49 3. Harry Tincknell 49 4. Alex Lynn 38 5. Lucas Auer 36 6. Felix Rosenqvist 27 7. Will Buller 21 8. Felix Serralles 18 9. Tom Blomqvist 17 10. Nicholas Latifi 10 Teams' Championship Pos Team Points 1. Prema Powerteam 107 2. Mucke Motorsport 80 3. Carlin 65 4. Fortec 38 5. ThreeBond w/T-Sport 29
