Photo: FIA Formula 3 European Championship
Raffaele Marciello has taken his seventh win of the 2013 European F3 season, crossing the checkered flag in fourth in an incident-filled race one at Norisring.
Felix Rosenqvist was the designated poleman for the race, but, as a result of a fuel infringement, the stewards decided to demote him to the back for all three races of the weekend. However, following an appeal from Mucke Motorsport, the Swede was given the right to start from pole, his result subject to approval based on the outcome of said appeal.
Off the line, Marciello got a slightly better getaway from front row and managed to outbrake Rosenqvist into turn one, taking the lead. Throughout two safety car periods and countless local yellow flags during the race, the Swede put noticeable pressure on Marciello, but the Italian withstood it, taking the victory. Rosenqvist was then not allowed onto the podium and was stricken from the classification of the race.
As such, it turned out to be the season’s second Prema 1-2-3. Alex Lynn was promoted to second, while Lucas Auer overtook Felix Serralles in the closing stages of the race for what turned out to be third.
Serralles took fourth, ahead of series returnee Alex Sims. Pipo Derani held Tom Blomqvist off for the entirety of the race to take sixth, while series debutant Nick Cassidy impressed by finishing eighth in his first race, despite stalling on the grid off the start. The Carlin duo of Jordan King and Harry Tincknell rounded out the top ten. The final point, as top ten finisher Cassidy is ineligible to score in the series, went to
The race was filled with incidents, all mostly taking place in the Grundig hairpin. Spike Goddard missed the braking point and went into Dennis van de Laar early on, while Tatiana Calderon lost control of the car going off the racing line and collided with Michela Cerruti. Lucas Wolf retired from a points finish due to a mechanical failure, while Sven Muller took out Antonio Giovinazzi whilst going into an uncontrollable spin in the braking zone for the hairpin.
Marciello will start races two and three at Norisring from pole position.