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Felix Rosenqvist wins European F3 race two at Spielberg

by Peter Allen
Felix Rosenqvist

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Felix Rosenqvist claimed victory in the second FIA F3 European Championship race of the weekend at Spielberg.

After retaining the lead from pole position, the F3 veteran was able to build a two-second advantage on the opening couple of laps as Antonio Giovianazzi and Lance Stroll fought over second.

Stroll had jumped Giovinazzi off the start, and although the Italian reclaimed the place at Turn 2, he had to continue defending on the following lap.

Once he had shaken Stroll off, Giovinazzi began to cut into Rosenqvist’s advantage, bringing the gap down to 0.8 seconds with a series of fastest laps.

The safety car was needed late on when Ryan Tveter spun into the gravel at Turn 4, with the race being restarted with three laps to go.

Rosenqvist did enough at the restart to avoid being challenged, winning by 1.3 seconds over Giovinazzi.

Stroll’s third place was his maiden podium finish in F3, having scored his fifth P4 finish of the season in race one earlier on.

Championship contender Charles Leclerc climbed from fourth in the early laps and spent the rest of the race chasing Stroll, but had to make do with fourth.

Fourth and fifth place starters Sergio Sette Camara and Markus Pommer both got into strife off the line – the German F3 champion making a second consecutive poor getaway while the Brazilian rookie was found to have jumped the start.

His penalty promoted Alex Albon into fifth, which he held until the chequered flag. Pommer had fallen to eighth at the start but after gaining a place from Sette Camara’s penalty, he passed George Russell after the restart and fell 0.039s short of beating Albon to the line.

Russell finished seventh ahead of a quiet race one winner Jake Dennis, with Mikkel Jensen ninth and Gustavo Menezes 10th after Callum Ilott fell back to 12th in the closing laps.

Race results
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Felix Rosenqvist Prema Powerteam 24 laps in 35:55.558
2 Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin +1.312
3 Lance Stroll Prema Powerteam +2.740
4 Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing +3.845
5 Alex Albon Signature +5.396
6 Markus Pommer Motopark +5.435
7 George Russell Carlin +7.011
8 Jake Dennis Prema Powerteam +7.379
9 Mikkel Jensen Mucke Motorsport +7.917
10 Gustavo Menezes Carlin +8.259
11 Raoul Hyman West-Tec +9.305
12 Callum Ilott Carlin +9.908
13 Santino Ferrucci Mucke Motorsport +10.632
14 Maximilian Gunther Mucke Motorsport +10.979
15 Arjun Maini Van Amersfoort Racing +12.203
16 Nabil Jeffri Motopark +13.711
17 Dorian Boccolacci Signature +15.660
18 Andy Chang Fortec Motorsports +15.978
19 Sergio Sette Camara Motopark +16.393
20 Matt Solomon Double R Racing +17.141
21 Tatiana Calderon Carlin +17.558
22 Julio Moreno T-Sport +18.111
23 Peter Li Fortec Motorsports +19.916
24 Matheus Leist Double R Racing +20.623
25 Mahaveer Raghunathan Motopark +22.078
26 Kang Ling Mucke Motorsport +29.386
27 Fabian Schiller West-Tec +32.591
28 Alessio Lorandi Van Amersfoort Racing +39.025
29 Sam MacLeod Motopark +1 lap
30 Michele Beretta Mucke Motorsport +1 lap
31 Matt Rao Fortec Motorsports +2 laps
32 Pietro Fittipaldi Fortec Motorsports +2 laps
Not classified
Ryan Tveter Carlin +7 laps