Jake Dennis wins again in incident-filled race two in Pau

Jake Dennis claimed his second win of the day in a disrupted race two of the FIA F3 European Championship round in Pau, surviving three safety cars and a red flag.

At the start, Dennis kept the lead from pole while it was third-placed Maximilian Gunther‘s turn to make a good start and pass Charles Leclerc for second. Antonio Giovinazzi had done the same in race one but remained in fourth on this occasion.

The first safety car was needed on lap two when Matt Solomon slid hard into the barriers at Pont Oscar, destroying the rear of his car.

After the restart, Dennis built up a 3.5-second lead over Gunther before the second appearance of the safety car on lap 15 after Julio Moreno stopped at the side of the track, a few metres up the road from the site of Solomon’s crash.

The third safety car spell quickly followed when Michele Beretta was tagged into a spin at the hairpin after contact from fellow Italian Alessio Lorandi – a slow starter from seventh on the grid.

At a quick restart, Leclerc got a run on Gunther and managed to make the move stick exiting Gare after the German ran wide.

This gave Giovinazzi a run too as he looked to maintain his 100 per cent record of podium finishes so far this season, while Gunther was attempting to hold onto a maiden podium finish on his fifth consecutive top-three start.

Giovinazzi found the inside line at the hairpin but Gunther tried to shut the door, contact was made and the Mucke driver went off into the tyre barrier on the outside while Giovinazzi continued.

The race was suspended due to a traffic jam that formed as the field tried to avoid Gunther, with Brandon Maisano being squeezed by Prema team-mate Lance Stroll and then rear-ended by Callum Ilott and Sergio Sette Camara.

When the race restarted with six minutes remaining, Dennis quickly built up a lead of over a second to Leclerc before backing off on the final lap as he secured victory.

In completing the top three, Leclerc and Giovinazzi extended their podium streaks to seven and eight races respectively.

Arjun Maini‘s first points in the series came with a fourth place, resisting late pressure from veteran Felix Rosenqvist who recovered from his 13th place in race one and P10 start for this race.

Rosenqvist passed Alex Albon for fifth after the red flag, at the same time as George Russell took seventh from Markus Pommer. Russell then went on to pass Albon before the end. Sam MacLeod scored his first points in ninth ahead of Lance Stroll.

Race results