Juncadella takes victory in 2012 F3 Euro Series opener at Hockenheim
Daniel Juncadella took a commanding victory in the opening round of the F3 Euro Series at Hockenheim on Saturday morning
From third on the grid the 20-year-old Spaniard had to defend his position hard on the opening lap, but bided his time while ahead of him polesitter Carlos Sainz Jr and Felix Rosenqvist swapped the lead several times on the opening lap.
He then passed Sainz's Carlin machine on lap two before taking the lead from Mucke driver Rosenqvist three laps later; Juncadella starting the move by getting alongside his rival at the Spitzkehre and then completing it under braking for the Mercedes arena.
Sainz passed Rosenqvist down the main straight on the following tour and initially put his compatriot under pressure, but could not stay with him and eventually finished 3.5 seconds behind.
Victory not only gave Juncadella his sixth such result in the Euro Series, but also made him the first Spanish winner of an FIA European Formula 3 Championship event - the race also counting for the series that has been revived after a 28-year absence.
Rosenqvist soon had his hands full defending third from Carlin's Will Buller and Fortec's Hannes van Asseldonk, but neither could ever get close enough to make a passing attempt and finished in the same order, easily ahead of Prema's Raffaele Marciello.
The race was significant for a number of stirring recovery drives after Michael Lewis stalled his Prema car from fourth on the grid and Alex Lynn (Fortec) and Sven Muller (Prema) collided at Turn 2 on the opening lap.
Fourteenth, 15th and 16th on lap two, Lewis, Muller and Lynn steadily moved through the field; Muller's drive the most impressive as he passed both his rivals and then dispatched Sandro Zeller (Jo Zeller) and Lucas Wolf (URD) with some excellent moves.
However, after climbing as high as seventh, he was given a drive-through penalty for passing Lynn under waved yellow flags on lap two, the yellows out while the wreckage of a collision between Andrea Roda (Zeller) and the innocent Felix Serralles (Fortec) was cleared away.
That meant Tom Blomqvist (ma-con) and Wolf inherited seventh and eighth spots; the latter taking pole for the reversed grid second race. Lewis and Lynn completed the top 10.
Results - 25 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Daniel Juncadella Mucke Dallara-Merc 39m50.239s 2. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW + 3.683s 3. Felix Rosenqvist Prema Dallara-Merc + 16.936s 4. Will Buller Carlin Dallara-VW + 18.029s 5. Hannes van Asseldonk Fortec Dallara-Merc + 19.460s 6. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc + 22.090s 7. Tom Blomqvist ma-con Dallara-VW + 40.311s 8. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc + 41.753s 9. Michael Lewis Prema Dallara-Merc + 42.312s 10. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Merc + 44.202s 11. Emil Bernstorff ma-con Dallara-VW + 1m02.193s 12. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc + 1m03.566s 13. Luis Sa Silva Angola Dallara-Merc + 1m04.307s 14. Philip Ellis GU Dallara-Merc + 1m10.788s 15. Sven Muller Prema Dallara-Merc + 1m27.630s Retirements: Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Dallara-Merc 1 lap Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 0 laps Andrea Roda Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 0 laps
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments