Juncadella takes victory in 2012 F3 Euro Series opener at Hockenheim

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