German F3
Nurburgring, R5 (2)
While much of the 2013 season of the ATS Formel 3 Cup has been rather straightforward, as Motopark in general and Marvin Kirchhofer dominated the proceedings, some much-needed unpredictability was brought in during the reverse-grid races. Among those, one in particular stood out ? the second race of the repeat round at Nurburgring, which featured a maiden victory and some remarkable wheel-to-wheel action.
Trophy class frontrunner Thomas Amweg lined up on reverse-grid pole, but Performance Racing’s Thomas Jager was the man leading into turn one. As the young Austrian started to pull away from the field, the Motopark trio began making their ways up the chart.
Behind Jager, Italian youngster Matteo Cairoli acted as a stop-gap in second, eventually relinquishing his position to Motopark’s Artem Markelov. Meanwhile, championship leader Marvin Kirchhofer was rapidly making up for a somewhat slow getaway, pulling off a grandiose move on both teammate Emil Bernstorff and Performance Racing team leader John Bryant-Meisner into turn one.
As Markelov started to put pressure on Jager, Kirchhofer found his way past Cairoli and was quickly approaching the duo. Shortly thereafter, Bernstorff settled into fourth and set his sights on partaking in the fight for the lead.
Having been stuck behind Jager, Markelov tried several moves, eventually leaving himself open to attacks from Kirchhofer. Soon enough, Marvin wound up side-by-side with his teammate and narrowly managed to get by.
With the eventual champion now threateningly looming in the leader’s rearview windows, Jager did exceptionally well to hold on to his first win over the final few laps, crossing the line half a second ahead of Kirchhofer. Markelov, Bernstorff, Cairoli and Bryant-Meisner completed a stellar top six.
Valentin Khorounzhiy