Raffaele Marciello scores eighth season victory in FIA Formula 3 European Championship – 

After the three pole positions he had secured on Friday, Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam) also claimed the first victory of the weekend in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. At the 3.629 kilometres’ short circuit layout of the Nürburgring, he won from Alexander Sims (ThreeBond with T-Sport), who crossed the line 6.147 seconds behind the Italian. Swede Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) took the final podium slot. In the drivers’ standings, Marciello extended his lead. He is now 34.5 points clear of his main rival Rosenqvist.

Marciello started the race from first place on the grid and dominated throughout. In the opening stages, he already pulled clear from the rest of the field and finally drove an undisputed victory home. As a reward, he was presented with the winners’ trophy by ex-Formula 1 driver and Le Mans winner, Emanuele Pirro. Positions behind Marciello were taken pretty quickly, too: Sims ahead of Rosenqvist, followed by Jordan King (Carlin) as the best-placed rookie, Lucas Auer (Prema Powerteam), Luis Felipe Derani (Fortec Motorsports), Michael Lewis (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) and Félix Serrallés (Fortec Motorsports). There was a fierce battle for ninth place. Initially, Sven Müller (ma-con) held this position, but he came off the track on lap 18, after which Red Bull junior driver Daniil Kvyat (Carlin) overtook him. After his excursion, the German had to defend his place from Harry Tincknell (Carlin) and Mitch Gilbert (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport). He was successful and thus took the chequered flag in tenth place. 

Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam) 
“My car was very fast and consistent today. Then it is always easy to drive a good race. I don’t know why things weren’t going that well at Norisring, but perhaps it was down to the fact that it was very hot there. Here, things were going better again and I am very happy with that.”

Alexander Sims (ThreeBond with T-Sport)
“Having won the reversed grid race here at Nürburgring last year, I am happy with this second place. This result particularly shows how good the T-Sport package and the ThreeBond Nissan engine really are. The race itself wasn’t very spectacular. At the start, I tried to get past Raffaele, but after that, he was simply faster than me.”

Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport)
“At the start, I almost stalled the engine and I was quite annoyed by it. After all, the start actually was the only chance today to overtake Raffaele and take over first place. Personally, I rated my race as quite good, although Raffaele was faster and I couldn’t keep up with him. But third place isn’t that bad and according to me, the driver who has shown the most consistent performance on the course of the season will end up winning the championship. The battle for the title has by no means been decided yet.”