DTM (Rd 7, Nurburgring)
Check out this weeks DTM report in Motorsport Monday.
FIA European F3 Championship (Rd 7, Nurburgring)
Ferrari protégé Raffaele Marciello registered a near perfect FIA European F3 Championship weekend at the Nurburgring to secure a commanding points lead with three rounds remaining. The Italian scored three wins from three poles, although the Prema Powerteam racer only managed two fastest laps, increasing his lead over Felix Rosenqvist to 72.5 points.
Marciello was away from the opening race, in which he created an impressive 6.1s gap to runner-up Alexander Sims. The Prema was never under threat – an early battle between Sims and Rosenqvist ensured Marciello had a solid gap, before Rosenqvist dropped back to the clutches of Jordan King, allowing Sims to build a gap of his own. The leading positions did not change from there, although King stuck to the rear of Rosenqvist to the flag; however the Swede held firm to take 3rd. Lucas Auer came home 5th – just over 14.5s adrift of Marciello – with the Austrian leading Pipo Derani (6th) and Michael Lewis (7th) for the duration. Sven Muller enjoyed a race long battle for 8th with Felix Serralles and Daniil Kvyat, only for a mistake on lap 18 by Muller to hand the advantage to Serralles and then Kvyat. Harry Tincknell took 11th and the final point.
Marciello did much of the same in race two; however the Italian also had to face a mid-race safety car period. From the start Marciello drew away, while Derani took 2nd thanks to a pass on Sims in the opening turn following a stall by Rosenqvist. Marciello was pulling away when Roy Nissany spun clumsily and was collected by Lucas Wolf, but that proved to be no problem for Marciello, who had built a 5.4s lead at the end. Derani held Sims and King in check for the duration, while Auer claimed a credible 5th.
Muller stayed ahead of a charging Alex Lynn, after the latter put in a top performance from 13th on the grid. Serralles claimed 8th – he was several seconds up on Rosenqvist, who recovered to 9th, helped by late race moves on Tincknell, Lewis, Tom Blomqvist and Kvyat.
On Sunday, Marciello confirmed his dominance with another lights-to-flag victory. The Prema man led home teammate Auer, after the Austrian streaked ahead of Rosenqvist off the line. In his desperation to recover, Rosenqvist ran wide at turn one, gifting 3rd to Derani, while Tincknell passed shortly afterward. Meanwhile, Marciello charged away, building a handy 3.2s second lead after 25 laps to claim full points. Although he fell behind Marciello, Auer streaked away from Derani, with the latter enjoying his best European F3 weekend. Tincknell held 4th, but only after soaking up race long pressure from Rosenqvist and Lynn, while secured another 7th spot. Mitch Gilbert finished 8th to earn his first points of the season ahead of Eddie Cheever III and Antonio Giovinazzi. Two first lap incidents necessitated an early safety car – firstly a collision between King and Blomqvist damaged both and also clattered Muller and Spike Goddard, while Sims, Serralles and Kvyat made contact in turn two.
