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Rosenqvist is victorious amidst safety car confusion

by Valentin Khorounzhiy

FIA Formula 3 European Championship, round 2, race 2, Silverstone (GB)

Photo: FIA F3 Europe

Felix Rosenqvist opened his 2013 win tally during the second European F3 race at Silverstone, taking a commandeering victory in a race which saw him pass Harry Tincknell for the lead twice over.

Rosenqvist got a better launch of the line than Tincknell and headlined the field under safety car conditions, brought out by Felix Serralles running into the stalled Antonio Giovinazzi during the start. However, as the race went back into green flag conditions, Rosenqvist slowed down immensely and was re-passed by Tincknell and Will Buller right after the safety car line.

The Mucke man was not content with letting the win slip and, showing a much better pace than the Brits ahead of him, passed Buller and then Tincknell, running the rest of the race unopposed until he crossed the checkered flag in first. With Tincknell running out of tyre life by the end, he was caught up to by Buller, but the T-Sport driver clipped the grass on entry into one of the corners and spun out, rejoining in tenth.

It was Raffaele Marciello, then, who finished runner-up after losing lots of places during the start – the Italian managing to fight back through the field and overtaking Tincknell shortly before the end of the race. Lucas Auer finished third ahead of Tincknell, who held off Tom Blomqvist.

A brilliant race from Alex Lynn after an early-on spin saw him make it to sixth from 20th, as he overtook Josh Hill on the very last lap. Finally, Pipo Derani and Buller were eighth and ninth, while Eddie Cheever, Jr. completed the top ten, making it the third time out of five that all the Prema cars finished in the points this year.

Rase results
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Motorsport 17 laps in 36:10.418
2 Raffaele Marciello Prema Powerteam +3.507
3 Lucas Auer Prema Powerteam +5.069
4 Harry Tincknell Carlin +8.227
5 Tom Blomqvist EuroInternational +8.326
6 Alex Lynn Prema Powerteam +9.077
7 Josh Hill Fortec +9.466
8 Pipo Derani Fortec0 +12.645
9 William Buller Carlin +13.289
10 Eddie Cheever Prema Powerteam +14.808
11 Michael Lewis Mucke Motorsport +15.323
12 Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoort +16.970
13 Lucas Wolf URD Rennsport +21.843
14 Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Motorsport +24.127
15 Spike Goddard ThreeBond/T-Sport +24.730
16 Sean Gelael Double R Racing +27.346
17 Andre Rudersdorf ma-con +37.145
18 Roy Nissany Mucke Motorsport +42.443
19 Tatiana Calderon Double R Racing +45.177
20 Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Racing +50.793
21 Mans Grenhagen Van Amersfoort +2 laps
Not classified
? Jordan King Carlin +3 laps
? Gary Thompson Romeo Ferraris +3 laps
? Nicholas Latifi Carlin +14 laps
? Sven M?ller ma-con +15 laps
? Felix Serralles Fortec +17 laps
? Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Racing +17 laps
? Jann Mardenborough Carlin +17 laps