Hockenheim European F3: Marciello survives spin to win race one
Raffaele Marciello survived a mid-race spin to win the first of three Formula 3 European Championship races at a wet Hockenheim on Saturday morning
The Italian dominated from pole position, making a strong start and pulling out a five-second gap by the end of the opening lap.
The Prema Powerteam driver increased his lead to 14.4s, and was still over 10s clear after he spun through 360 degrees exiting Turn 1 midway through the race.
He continued without damage and was still easily able to take his fourth win of the year, which increased his championship lead from 36.5 points to 57.5.
Marciello's team-mate Lucas Auer almost grabbed the lead at the start of the race, but spun to the tail end of the top 10 exiting the first corner.
That handed second to Alex Lynn in the third Prema car, but the Brit also spun on the first lap and was narrowly avoided by both Tom Blomqvist and Felix Serralles at the Mercedes Arena.
Serralles moved into second as a result, the Puerto Rican resisting initial pressure from Blomqvist to take the best result for Fortec in the championship this year.
EuroInternational driver Blomqvist completed the podium with Ma-con's Sven Muller passing Harry Tincknell's Carlin machine for fourth at the Arena on the sixth lap.
Josh Hill was the best of the rookies in a fine sixth spot - his best result in F3 - for Fortec.
Auer recovered to seventh - avoiding a potential collision with Felix Rosenqvist at the Spitzkehre in the process as the Swede missed his braking point with a handful of laps to go.
Rosenqvist, Will Buller - who had run as high as sixth early on - and F3 debutant Daniil Kvyat completed the top 10.
Lynn, who had fallen to 25th after his first-lap spin, finished 15th while his team-mate Eddie Cheever, who had struggled with a gear-shifting glitch since going to the grid before the start, spun out of the race entering the Stadium section on the second lap.
Results - 19 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Raffaele Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc 36m00.250s 2. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc + 14.834s 3. Tom Blomqvist Eurointernational Dallara-Merc + 15.719s 4. Sven Muller Ma-con Dallara-VW + 20.088s 5. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW + 27.135s 6. Josh Hill Fortec Dallara-Merc + 29.504s 7. Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc + 32.245s 8. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc + 32.875s 9. Will Buller T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 36.821s 10. Daniil Kvyat Carlin Dallara-VW + 44.211s 11. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW + 47.010s 12. Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc + 54.209s 13. Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW + 57.214s 14. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc + 58.256s 15. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc + 59.102s 16. Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW + +1m02.361s 17. Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Merc + +1m06.467s 18. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc + +1m15.784s 19. Mans Grenhagen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW + +1m25.312s 20. Ed Jones Fortec Dallara-Merc + +1m25.809s 21. Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc + +1m32.525s 22. Michael Lewis Mucke Dallara-Merc + +1m33.300s 23. Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW + +1m41.660s 24. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc + +1m42.873s 25. Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW + 1 lap 26. Tatiana Calderon Double R Dallara-Merc + 1 lap 27. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 1 lap Retirements: Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Merc 7 laps Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Merc 18 laps
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