Motorsports Mondial

Photo: f3euroseries

Ambitious title rivals on the hunt for championship leader Merhi

This weekend, the Formula 3 Euro Series young guns are going to battle it out for points, positions and race wins at the short layout (3.629 kilometres) of the Nürburgring’s Grand Prix circuit. Spain’s Roberto Merhi (Prema Powerteam) has won 5 of the 15 races contested to date and therefore, he is going to travel to the Eifel region as championship leader, with second-placed German Marco Wittmann (Signature) who secured two wins less following 31 points behind. Nigel Melker (Mücke Motorsport), currently the best rookie on the Formula 3 Euro Series grid, also has got three race wins under his belt and holds third position.

Title contenders Roberto Merhi and Marco Wittmann demonstrated in 2010 that the Nürburgring embedded in the Eifel suits them well: 21-year old Wittman finished runner-up in one of the races held last year at ’The Ring’ and Merhi, who is a year younger, secured a third place behind Belgian Laurens Vanthoor (Signature) who also has set himself ambitious goals for the race weekend in the Eifel. In the event held near his home country, the 20-year old from Zolder would love to tie in with the upward trend he displayed recently by finishing runner-up twice. At the Nürburgring, he wants to celebrate his first win of the 2011 season.

Laurens Vanthoor (Signature): “I enjoy racing at the Nürburgring and am looking forward to the forthcoming weekend. In 2010, the Nürburgring weekend with my second place represented a kind of a watershed for my season and I’ve got the feeling that we could make it to the podium again, this year. Should I be able to display the same pace as in the previous rounds and if everything else also goes according to plan I certainly will be able to secure a good result.”