Formula 3 European Championship: Rosenqvist wins Race 1 at Nürburgring

Felix Rosenqvist (Prema Powerteam) continued his domination in FIA Formula 3 European Championship with 10th victory of the season today at Nürburgring. Rosenqvist started from pole and led the race to the checkered flag, with a comfortable gap of 6,491 seconds ahead of second placed team-mate Nick Cassidy. Carlin’s Callum Ilott scored his best result so far with third place, crossing the finish line 7,764 seconds after the winner.

All three podium finishers preserved their positions from the start. Next three drivers set their places in Lap 1 and stayed there all 25 laps –  Charles Leclerc (4th, Van Amersfoort), Mikkel Jensen (5th, Mücke Motorsport) and Markus Pommer (6th, Motopark).  In Top 10, there were only two changes in the early phase of the race. Santino Ferrucci (Mücke Motorsport) started 13th, jumped to 8th in opening lap and in Lap 2 he overtook Arjun Maini (Van Amersfoort Racing) for 7th place. Championship contender Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) had a problematic first lap and fell from fifth to 11th place. In Lap 3 he overtook Sergio Sette Camara (Motopark) and both of them remained on the same position till the end.

Jake Dennis (Prema Powerteam), who started fourth, damaged the car during the opening lap and retired. George Russell (Carlin), who was fantastic yesterday in qualifying and scored second best time, unfortunately had to change the engine and dropped ten positions at the grid. He started 12th and finished 13th.

With 25 points from Race 1 at Nürburgring Felix Rosenqvist increased the gap in championship standings ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi. Rosenqvist has 403 points and Giovinazzi has 344,5 points. One more race at the Nürburgring is scheduled for today afternoon and one race for tomorrow morning.