Hockenheim European F3: Rosenqvist dominates race three
Felix Rosenqvist made up for two abject races by dominating the final Formula 3 European Championship event of weekend at Hockenheim on Sunday
The Swede made a sensation getaway from fourth on the grid to lead into the first corner in his Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes, and was only briefly headed.
Rosenqvist's initial lead was eroded by an early safety-car period that allowed both Carlin's Jordan King and Fortec's Felix Serralles to close in.
F3 rookie King, who started on the front row, grabbed the lead at the Mercedes Arena on lap 10, but ran wide at the exit of the corner and fell back to second.
That then became third when Serralles also passed him, but only after the Puerto Rican and the Briton had impressively run side-by-side - without contact - for four corners.
While Rosenqvist took his second win of the year and Serralles added to the second place he'd taken in race one, King began to fall back.
His polesitting team-mate Daniil Kvyat robbed him of third on the run out of the Spitz Kehre on lap 11 and Raffaele Marciello then took fourth at the same corner a handful of laps later when King ran wide after putting two wheels on the outside kerb under braking.
King stayed on the Prema Powerteam car's tail and even repassed Marciello at the hairpin a few laps later. But Marciello's better exit from the corner had him back in front by the Mercedes Arena.
Marciello's result retained the Ferrari protege's championship lead, albeit at a reduced 71.5 points from Rosenqvist.
Alex Lynn survived a late tap up the rear from Sven Muller to take sixth with Tom Blomqvist, Eddie Cheever and Pipo Derani completing the top 10.
Both were just ahead of a terrific five-car battle that featured Lucas Auer - who pitted for a new nose after hitting King on the first lap - and Josh Hill, who stalled at the start.
Harry Tincknell and Will Buller would likely have finished in the same group, but for the former spinning the T-Sport driver around at the hairpin just after being passed by him.
Buller finished 17th while Tincknell finished a lap down after being given a drive-through penalty for causing the incident and stopping to have front-end damage to his Carlin car checked.
The biggest incident of the race was a safety car-inducing accident on lap three that eliminated Andre Rudersdorf, Roy Nissany, Sean Gelael and Spike Goddard.
Results - 21 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 35m48.454s 2. Felix Serralles Prema Dallara-Merc + 4.841s 3. Daniil Kvyat Carlin Dallara-VW + 5.340s 4. Raffaele Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc + 6.580s 5. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW + 7.178s 6. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc + 7.768s 7. Sven Muller Ma-con Dallara-VW + 8.930s 8. Tom Blomqvist EuroInternational Dallara-VW + 16.563s 9. Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Merc + 17.586s 10. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc + 18.613s 11. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc + 19.071s 12. Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc + 19.621s 13. Josh Hill Fortec Dallara-Merc + 19.880s 14. Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW + 21.942s 15. Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW + 22.527s 16. Michael Lewis Prema Dallara-Merc + 24.355s 17. Will Buller T-Sport Dallara-Nissan + 25.289s 18. Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Merc + 26.208s 19. Mans Grenhagen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW + 32.856s 20. Ed Jones Fortec Dallara-Merc + 35.853s 21. Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Merc + 36.712s 22. Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW + 37.679s 23. Tatiana Calderon Double R Dallara-Merc + 38.472s 24. Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc + 1m17.976s 25. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW + 1 lap Retirements: Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW 2 laps Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc 2 laps Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 2 laps Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc 2 laps
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