Alex Lynn claimed his second FIA European Formula 3 victory of the season in stellar style at the Norisring this evening.
The Englishman jumped the slow starting poleman Raffaele Marciello off the line, with the Italian dropping to 5th on the opening tour.
From there Lynn kept a small, but confident lead ranging from six-tenths to 2.6s, while battle raged in his mirrors.
The Prema Powerteam racer also managed to keep a cool, while dealing with lapped traffic through the final eight laps of the race.
Behind Lynn, Felix Rosenqvist rose to 2nd, while Alexander Sims and Pipo Derani captured 3rd and 4th respectively.
Marciello divebombed Derani on the fourth tour to earn 4th, bringing him into a battle with the Rosenqvist / Sims pairing. For lap after lap, Sims and Marciello swapped fastest laps as Rosenqvist – running on used tyres – fought off the rearguard action.
Despite his lack of time in his T-Sport Nissan machine, Sims bravely held Marciello’s advances at bay, until lap 34, when a mistake in the opening hairpin allowed the series leader through into 3rd.
Rosenqvist was also suffering from a lack of grip at this point and indeed overshot the turn one hairpin just prior to Sims’ error; however the Swede was not to be displaced.
It may all mean naught for Rosenqvist’s title ambitions however. The Mucke racer was competing under appeal following an irregularity with his fuel in qualifying – until a final decision is made, Marciello assumes 2nd and Sims 3rd place.
Derani gradually fell behind the leading group as the race aged. The Brazilian spent the duration fighting off teammate Felix Serralles, yet despite the Puerto Rican’s finest efforts, Derani would be unmoved.
Tom Blomqvist took 7th on the road thanks to a lap eight move on Harry Tincknell, while Jordan King made progress beyond Nick Cassidy late on to assume 9th on the road. Cassidy also fell behind Michael Lewis on the penultimate tour to take 10th; however Rosenqvist’s exclusion keeps Cassidy in the top ten.
Neither Cassidy nor 12th place racer Daniil Kvyat are registered for championship points, so Lucas Auer assumes the final prize, despite a horror start that dropped him to 20th place.
FIA European F3 Championship (Rd 6, race 2, Norisring; 42 laps) Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc 34m22.297s DSQ. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc +1.257s* 2. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc +2.355s 3. Alexander Sims T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +3.258s 4. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc +11.396s 5. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc +12.271s 6. Tom Blomqvist Eurointernational Dallara-Merc +12.672s 7. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW +13.647s 8. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW +19.545s 9. Michael Lewis Mucke Dallara-Merc +20.098s 10. Nick Cassidy Eurointernational Dallara-Merc +21.008s 11. Daniil Kvyat Carlin Dallara-VW +21.327s 12. Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc +25.377s 13. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc +27.685s 14. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc +34.228s 15. Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Merc +36.076s 16. Sven Muller Ma-con Dallara-VW +36.792s 17. Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW +41.601s 18. Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW +44.460s 19. Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW +44.616s 20. Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc +44.702s 21. Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Merc +46.229s 22. Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc +1 lap 23. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +1 lap 24. Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Merc +1 lap 25. Tatiana Calderon Double R Dallara-Merc +1 lap 26. Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW +1 lap 27. Michela Cerruti Ferraris Dallara-Merc +2 laps
Notes
Penalties
*Rosenqvist racing under appeal following exclusion from qualifying for fuel irregularities.
FIA European F3 Championship (Rd 6, Race 2) Pos Driver Points 1. Raffaele Marciello 282.5 2. Felix Rosenqvist 212 4. Alex Lynn 176.5 3. Lucas Auer 166 5. Harry Tincknell 146 6. Tom Blomqvist 114.5 7. Felix Serralles 103 8. Jordan King 80 9. Sven Muller 60 10. Josh Hill 56 Pos Team Points 1. Prema Powerteam 436 2. Mucke Motorsport 302 3. Carlin 277 4. Fortec 150 5. EuroInternational 137
