F3 European Championship

FELIX ROSENQVIST WINS—battle for the title is open again—

With his second victory, Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) concluded the eighth race weekend of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship on the Dutch North Sea coast. As points’ leader, Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam) retired early, the Swede was able to reduce his gap in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers’ standings to 9.5 points. At the 4.307 kilometres long Circuit Park Zandvoort, Jordan King (Carlin) and Alex Lynn (Prema Powerteam) followed behind Rosenqvist.

From pole position, Felix Rosenqvist took the lead at the start, followed by Jordan King, who had already overtaken his team-mate Daniil Kvyat (Carlin) on the first few metres. Alex Lynn moved past the Red Bull junior driver on the opening lap as well, so that Kvyat was in fourth place and came under pressure from Raffaele Marciello. Lynn was only able to relax on lap 16, as Marciello crashed into the barriers all on his own and retired. A safety car intervention followed. At the restart with one lap remaining, Rosenqvist held on to his leading position and soon after celebrated his second victory of the season.

British driver, Jordan King, scored his best result in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship to date by finishing second from his compatriot Alex Lynn. After Marciello’s retirement, Luis Felipe Derani (Fortec Motorsports) moved up to fifth place behind Daniil Kvyat and ahead of Harry Tincknell (Carlin). Lucas Auer (Prema Powerteam) only overtook Tom Blomqvist (Eurointernational) for eighth place on the final lap, followed by Alexander Sims (ThreeBond with T-Sport) and Mitchell Gilbert (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport).

Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) 
“I knew that I had a good chance of winning when I would be first into the first corner. Therefore, I focussed on the start and I did well. Then, I tried to manage my tyres and to keep my margin on Jordan consistent. That wasn’t very easy and I had to do my utmost. Of course, this weekend in general was great for me: I have scored 75 points and I was able to close up in the drivers’ standings.” 

Jordan King (Carlin)
“I was able to overtake Daniil at the start and slotted in behind Felix. Unfortunately, after that, I was never close enough to start an attack. After the restart, I didn’t have a chance against Felix either, even though I was able to reduce the gap. All in all, my weekend was quite good. I have moved up from eighth to sixth in the drivers’ standings.”

Alexander Lynn (Prema Powerteam)
“Making it onto the podium from fourth place on the grid is really good, and even more so as I was driving with used tyres in this race. I didn’t have any chance against Felix and Jordan, but I was able to overtake Daniil. With three podium finishes this weekend, I really can’t complain. Now, we have to work on being able to battle for pole position in qualifying again.”