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Ticktum defeats Fenestraz in European F3 opener at Silverstone

by Ida Wood

Dan Ticktum beat Sacha Fenestraz to victory in the first European Formula 3 Championship race at Silverstone after hounding the Frenchman for most of the race.

After bettering Prema’s Guan Yu Zhou on the outside of Luffield on the first lap, the Motopark driver stayed glued to the rear of race leader Fenestraz, although never quite close enough to commit to a challenge.

It took until the 14th lap of 19 for Ticktum to get a proper look, putting his nose in at Stowe before Fenestraz defended the inside line. A lap later he tried the move again, timing it later into the corner and getting alongside Fenestraz as a result. The Carlin driver went out wide on the exit, and Ticktum completed the move before they entered Vale.

He immediately pulled away from Fenestraz, stretching out a 1.6 second lead before a Full Course Yellow was required to move Ralf Aron out of the gravel.

Prema drivers Aron, Zhou and Mick Schumacher all had left-rear tyre failures, a worry statistic for the team. Only eighth placed finisher Robert Shwartzman seemed to be unaffacted. Former championship leader Marcus Armstrong finished two places further ahead.

Enaam Ahmed made it two Britons on the podium in third, moving past Jonathan Aberdein after the restart from the FCY period. Aberdein also lost a spot to Motopark team-mate Juri Vips after skating across the kerbs down the pit straight and almost going airborne.

Alex Palou finished seventh for Hitech, with Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala and race two poleman Fabio Scherer completing the top 10 for Motopark.

Ben Hingeley and Marino Sato had the most exciting battle of the race, running wheel-to-wheel throughout for what eventually became 11th place. Charles Leong finished 19th on his European F3 debut.

 

Race results
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Dan Ticktum Motopark 19 laps
2 Sacha Fenestraz Carlin +1.458s
3 Enaam Ahmed Hitech GP +11.498s
4 Juri Vips Motopark +12.659s
5 Jonathan Aberdein Motopark +14.252s
6 Marcus Armstrong Prema +15.530s
7 Alex Palou Hitech GP +16.170s
8 Robert Shwartzman Prema +16.829s
9 Jehan Daruvala Carlin +17.457s
10 Fabio Scherer Motopark +20.522s
11 Ben Hingeley Hitech GP +22.520s
12 Marino Sato Motopark +22.922s
13 Ferdinand Habsburg Carlin +28.715s
14 Nikita Troitskiy Carlin +31.592s
15 Sebastian Fernandez Motopark +33.739s
16 Keyvan Andres Van Amersfoort Racing +34.608s
17 Ameya Vaidyanathan Carlin +45.138s
18 Sophia Floersch Van Amersfoort Racing +46.270s
19 Charles Leong Hitech GP +47.583s
20 Petru Florescu Fortec Motorsports +49.205s
Ret Ralf Aron Prema
Ret Guan Yu Zhou Prema
Ret Mick Schumacher Prema
Ret Artem Petrov Van Amersfoort Racing
Fastest Lap: Ticktum, 1m51.812s

Championship Standings
1
?Ticktum 188? ?2?Armstrong 162? ?3 Aron 141.5? ?4 Zhou 130? ?5?Ahmed 121? ?6?Vips 114? ?7?Daruvala 113.5? ?8 Shwartzman 103? ?9 Schumacher 101? ?10?Palou 98