Raffaele Marciello strikes back…

Having been beaten by his team-mate Alex Lynn (Prema Powerteam) in the first race of the weekend at Brands Hatch, Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam) won this afternoon’s eleventh race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. At the 1.929 kilometres long Indy circuit, Lynn came home second. Lucas Auer (Prema Powerteam) again finished third. With his sixth season victory, Marciello, a protégé of the Ferrari Driver Academy, extends his lead in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers’ standings. 

At the start, Raffaele Marciello beat his team-mate Alex Lynn, who had started from pole position, to take the lead. In the following laps, the Zurich-born Italian pulled a gap of up to almost five seconds, but then, the Brit was able to close up again, mainly due to other drivers being lapped. At the finish, Marciello had a margin of 2.8 seconds over Lynn. Lucas Auer had a better start than in the first race of the weekend and converted his third starting grid position into a third-place finish. Sven Müller (ma-con) remained closely behind Auer for many laps, but was not able to seriously jeopardise the latter’s podium finish.

Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) took the flag in fifth place and thus saved his second place in the point’s standings just before Alex Lynn. Tom Blomqvist (Eurointernational), Harry Tincknell (Carlin), Josh Hill (Fortec Motorsports), William Buller (ThreeBond with T-Sports) and Jann Mardenborough (Carlin) rounded out the top ten that included six British young drivers.

Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam)
“With my good start, I was able to take the lead right away. For me, the biggest challenge in the race was Roy Nissany, who was in the way for six laps while I tried to lap him. Because I had a huge margin over Alex, I patiently waited for my chance.” 

Alex Lynn (Prema Powerteam)
“I have to admit that Raffaele’s start was better than mine. I am slightly disappointed not having won the race, after having started from pole position again. But tomorrow, I have another chance. Once again, the total performance of the Prema team was perfect in this race, which among others is down to the great co-operation among us as the drivers. We are helping out each other and pushing one another to achieve these great performances.”

Lucas Auer (Prema Powerteam)
“My start was good and I slotted in behind Alex right away. Initially, I was able to keep up with him, but then I had to give in a little. After that, I was under pressure from behind, but I was able to drive third place home safely.”