PaddockScout Roundup: GP2/GP3 Silverstone, F3 Zandvoort Masters

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GP2: Evans beats Palmer to maiden win, Nasr victorious again

Mitch Evans scored his maiden GP2 victory in the feature race at Silverstone, defeating championship leader?Jolyon Palmer through the pitstop phase late in their race-long battle. Evans finished up seventh in the sprint race, enough to promote the Kiwi second-year driver up to fourth in the standings.

Palmer meanwhile raced his way to fourth, extending his points lead to 38. That was despite a third win from four weekends in the sprint race for Palmer’s nearest rival Felipe Nasr. The Brazilian had been poised to finish third in the feature race until being undone by a troublesome pitstop, dropping him to seventh.

Raffaele Marciello was the class of the field at the start of the weekend, topping practice, claiming pole position and leading the feature race until his pitstop. However, his car then ground to a halt with a mechanical failure and a double retirement was sealed when he was knocked into the gravel at the first corner of the sprint race.

Fellow rookie Stoffel Vandoorne inherited third to claim his second straight feature race podium, but again dropped out of the points in the sprint race. Marciello’s Racing Engineering team-mate Stefano Coletti replicated his Spielberg form, finishing fourth in the feature and then setting the fastest lap on his way to second in the sprint. Johnny Cecotto completed the sprint race podium, after finishing sixth in race one, while Julian Leal was fifth in both races. Marco Sorensen enjoyed a strong last-minute debut, finishing ninth and eighth.

GP2 Series Round 5/11 ? Silverstone, United Kingdom
Race 1 Report: Mitch Evans claims maiden GP2 win in Silverstone feature race
1st: Mitch Evans		2nd: Jolyon Palmer	3rd: Stoffel Vandoorne
Race 2 Report: Nasr claims third win from four rounds in Silverstone sprint
1st: Felipe Nasr		2nd: Stefano Coletti	3rd: Johnny Cecotto
Championship standings
1	Jolyon Palmer	143 pts
2	Felipe Nasr	105 pts
3	Johnny Cecotto	94 pts
4	Mitch Evans	67 pts
5	Stefano Coletti	67 pts
6	Julian Leal	66 pts
Next round: Hockenheim (19-20 July)

GP3: Eriksson and Stanaway win to keep pressure on Lynn

GP3 points leader Alex Lynn was denied a win at his home round at Silverstone, with his two nearest rivals Jimmy Eriksson and Richie Stanaway instead claiming the spoils. Eriksson beat Lynn to pole in qualifying and held on under pressure towards the end of the first race to secure his first victory.

He undid some of his hard work though by crashing out of race two, earning himself a five-place grid penalty for Hockenheim in the process. Lynn initially went backwards yet again at the start of the second race, but recovered to sixth, helped by the incident involving Eriksson. The Red Bull Junior now has an eight-point lead.

Stanaway was seventh – his worst result of the season so far – in race one but capitalised on his front row start for race two to claim his first single-seater win since 2011. He is third in the standings, ten behind Eriksson. Status team-mate Nick Yelloly was second, after a fifth in race two, while Emil Bernstorff finished fourth and third. Marvin Kirchhofer made the podium for the first time in race one, and was fourth in race two. Riccardo Agostini was impressive in just his second GP3 weekend, taking a sixth and a fifth.

GP3 Series Round 3/9 ? Silverstone, United Kingdom
Race 1 Report: Eriksson holds off Lynn to win first Silverstone GP3 race
1st: Jimmy Eriksson		2nd: Alex Lynn	3rd: Marvin Kirchhofer
Race 2 Report: Stanaway wins Silverstone GP3 race two in Status one-two
1st: Richie Stanaway		2nd: Nick Yelloly	3rd: Emil Bernstorff
Championship standings
1	Alex Lynn	86 pts
2	Jimmy Eriksson	78 pts
3	Richie Stanaway	68 pts
4	Emil Bernstorff	58 pts
5	Marvin Kirchhofer	49 pts
6	Nick Yelloly	38 pts
Next round: Hockenheim (19-20 July)

Zandvoort Masters F3: Verstappen triumphs on home soil

Max Verstappen‘s commanding win in the prestigious Zandvoort Masters F3 race was no less than was expected coming into the event for the 16-year-old who had dominated the European rounds at Spa and the Norisring in the previous two weekends. The scheduling of the Moscow round next weekend prevented European cars from taking part, leaving an entry of just 11 from the German and British series.

Verstappen didn’t have it all his own way though – he was matched to the thousandth in practice and trailed in a wet first qualifying. After nailing pole in the dry second session, he then had to take defensive action into the first corner, but stayed ahead and finished with a nine-second winning margin.

That was helped by a time penalty handed to his usual team-mate Jules Szymkowiak (Verstappen had switched from Van Amersfoort to Motopark for the race) for nerfing fellow VAR driver Sam MacLeod out of second place at the first corner. That gave second to Steijn Schothorst, making his F3 debut with Performance Racing, and third to Nabil Jeffri.

Euroformula Open: Janosz and Palou boost title chances

The Euroformula Open title race closed right back up again with wins for Artur Janosz and Alex Palou at the Hungaroring and a bad weekend for Sandy Stuvik. Janosz claimed victory from pole in race one with Palou second and Stuvik back in fourth after running off track at the start.

In race two, Palou got ahead of Janosz to claim his second win of the season while Stuvik retired with suspension damage. That means that. after trailing Stuvik by 29 points coming into the weekend, Janosz is now back into the standings lead. Stuvik is just five points behind, with Palou a further four back and a massive 78 ahead of anyone else.

Making the podium for the first time were Andres Saravia in race one and Konstantin Tereshchenko in race two. Most of the other drivers in the top ten had tough weekends, including double non-scores for Cameron Twynham and Tanart Sathienthirakul.

Euroformula Open Round 4/8 ? Hungaroring, Hungary
Race 1 Report: Janosz cruises to second win in Euroformula Open
1st: Artur Janosz		2nd: Alex Palou	3rd: Andres Saravia
Race 2 Report: Palou clears Janosz to take victory in race two at Budapest
1st: Alex Palou		2nd: Artur Janosz	3rd: Konstantin Tereshchenko
Championship standings
1	Artur Janosz	140 pts
2	Sandy Stuvik	135 pts
3	Alex Palou	131 pts
4	Yu Kanamaru	53 pts
5	Cameron Twynham	53 pts
6	Konstantin Tereshchenko	51 pts
Next round: Silverstone (19-20 July)

Formula Renault 2.0 Alps: Leclerc claims first two wins at Monza

Charles Leclerc claimed the first two wins of his single-seater career in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps round at Monza. The Nicolas Todt protege inherited the race one win when surprise pole-sitter Stefan Riener was given a time penalty for jumping the start, dropping him to third. Leclerc started race two from pole, and recovered from losing the lead at the start.

Matevos Isaakyan was the driver to get the jump on Leclerc in race two, but the young Russian had to settle for second in the end. He would have had the same result in the first race had he not been collected by a spinning backmarker. That retirement was enough for Isaakyan to be jumped in their fight for second in the standings. Alessio Rovera scored a double podium – second in race one and third in race two.

For the first time this season, Nyck de Vries finished off the podium, taking a fourth and a sixth after a poor qualifying left him starting back on the fifth row. It means the Dutchman hasn’t yet wrapped up the title, but with a 70-point lead, he can do that next time out at Mugello if he isn’t out-scored by more than 20 points by Leclerc.

Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Round 5/7 ? Monza, Italy
Race 1 Report: Leclerc inherits maiden Alps win at Monza
1st: Charles Leclerc		2nd: Alessio Rovera	3rd: Stefan Riener
Race 2 Report: Charles Leclerc grabs second win of Monza weekend
1st: Charles Leclerc		2nd: Matevos Isaakyan	3rd: Alessio Rovera
Championship standings
1	Nyck de Vries	200 pts
2	Charles Leclerc	130 pts
3	Matevos Isaakyan	122 pts
4	George Russell	77 pts
5	Simon Gachet	68 pts
6	Alessio Rovera	65 pts
Next round: Mugello (6-7 September)

French F4: Sorensen gets a hat-trick at Val de Vienne

Lasse Sorensen became the first driver to win all three races in a French F4 round this season with a perfect weekend at Val de Vienne. The Dane claimed his maiden victory in the category from pole in race one, before battling his way to the front from tenth on the reverse grid in race two. On pole again for race three, he absolutely dominated this time, winning by 13 seconds. His performances have propelled him into a 26-point lead.

Felix Hirsiger threatened to get his season really firing with second in race one, but incidents prevented him from scoring in the latter two races. Dorian Boccolacci lost the points lead but was still the second top-scorer for the weekend behind Sorensen. A spin dropped him from third to seventh in race one, before taking fourth and second in the remaining races.

Paul Hokfelt scored a maiden podium in race one, Denis Bulatov and Joseph Mawson completed the podium in race two and Valentin Moineault was third in race three. Patricio O’Ward was an impressive debutant, taking a fourth and two fifths.

French F4 Championship Round 3/7 ? Val de Vienne, France
Race 1 Report: Sorensen beats Hirsiger to take race one win at Val de Vienne
1st: Lasse Sorensen		2nd: Felix Hirsiger	3rd: Felix Hirsiger
Race 2 Report: Sorensen doubles up in eventful race two at Val de Vienne
1st: Lasse Sorensen		2nd: Denis Bulatov	3rd: Joseph Mawson
Race 3 Report: Lasse Sorensen completes Val de Vienne hat-trick
1st: Lasse Sorensen		2nd: Dorian Boccolaccci	3rd: Valentin Moineault
Championship standings
1	Lasse Sorensen	156 pts
2	Dorian Boccolaccci	130 pts
3	Felix Hirsiger	97 pts
4	Joseph Mawson	89 pts
5	Denis Bulatov	73 pts
6	Amaury Richard	70 pts
Next round: Magny-Cours (6-7 September)

Star Driver: Lasse Sorensen

A superb weekend from the Dane, not only dominating from pole but also working his way through the field in the reverse grid race. A good weekend in the Sorensen household, with his older brother Marco’s fine GP2 debut.