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Pau European F3: Prema's Jake Dennis takes first victory

Jake Dennis converted his maiden Formula 3 European Championship pole into his first F3 victory in the opening race of the Pau weekend

The 2012 McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner soaked up immense pressure from championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi throughout the race, but held firm and never allowed the Italian to make a serious move.

While Racing Steps protege Dennis got a good start in his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes, Giovinazzi made a superb one from fourth on the grid, the Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen immediately outdragging second-row partner Maximilian Gunther and then squeezing down the inside of Charles Leclerc into the kink after the startline.

The leading trio of Dennis, Giovinazzi and Leclerc stayed close for the opening 12 laps, before a safety car was caused due to Dorian Boccolacci's stricken car, which was parked up against the barriers on the sweepers leading to the start-finish line.

No sooner had the race gone green again when Michele Beretta, who'd been cast adrift of the field in an early incident but then caught up under the safety car, crashed under the bridge at the tight Pont Oscar left-hander.

There was time for 12 more laps of racing after this second safety car, and Giovinazzi stayed close to Dennis, but then the leader began to inch out a gap.

Although Dennis, Giovinazzi and the Van Amersfoort Racing car of Leclerc - who set fastest lap - were close again with one lap remaining, there was little doubt about the final result.

"To get my first victory around the streets of Pau is a nice way to do it," said Dennis. "It's not like an F1-style track - it's a prestigious track.

"But these two guys made it really hard - one mistake and I would have lost the win."

Mucke Motorsport man Gunther appeared to lack the pace of the leading trio and instead spent the race fending off the Signature car of Alex Albon as they raced to fourth and fifth places.

Behind them, Callum Ilott led Alessio Lorandi for sixth before contact between the two 16-year-olds at the Lycee hairpin after the final restart dropped Ilott several places down the order. Lorandi emerged unscathed to score his maiden F3 points in his VAR car.

There was another very close fight behind, with Carlin driver George Russell swarming over Mikkel Jensen for most of the race without ever managing to find a way past Mucke's Dane for seventh.

As the race wore on, Russell had to become wary of Prema duo Lance Stroll and Brandon Maisano behind him, Stroll having made a simple pass on Maisano at the first restart.

Behind Ilott and Arjun Maini, Felix Rosenqvist finished a lowly 13th after a race-long fight with Gustavo Menezes - the Swede passed the American when the safety car boards were out, then conceded the position under racing conditions, before Menezes dropped two places on the final lap.

RACE 1 RESULTS

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Jake Dennis Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 27 35m54.103s
2 Antonio Giovinazzi Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 0.680s
3 Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Volkswagen 27 1.196s
4 Maximilian Guenther KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 27 7.079s
5 Alexander Albon Signature Dallara/Volkswagen 27 7.613s
6 Alessio Lorandi Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Volkswagen 27 9.833s
7 Mikkel Jensen KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 27 14.113s
8 George Russell Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 14.695s
9 Lance Stroll Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 27 15.122s
10 Brandon Maisano Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 27 16.301s
11 Callum Ilott Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 18.314s
12 Arjun Maini Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Volkswagen 27 18.654s
13 Felix Rosenqvist Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 27 19.502s
14 Sergio Sette Camara Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 27 22.087s
15 Gustavo Menezes Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 23.334s
16 Raoul Hyman Team West-Tec F3 Dallara/Mercedes 27 25.821s
17 Tatiana Calderon Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 26.092s
18 Nabil Jeffri Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 27 29.970s
19 Matt Rao Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes 27 31.549s
20 Kang Ling KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 27 32.069s
21 Martin Cao Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes 27 34.272s
22 Julio Moreno ThreeBond with T-Sport Dallara/NBE 27 38.656s
23 Markus Pommer Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 27 39.127s
24 Ryan Tveter Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 39.912s
25 Matt Solomon Double R Racing Dallara/Mercedes 27 42.321s
- Sam MacLeod Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 24 Retirement
- Gustav Malja EuroInternational Dallara/Mercedes 21 Retirement
- Nicolas Pohler Double R Racing Dallara/Mercedes 17 Retirement
- Michele Beretta KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 14 Retirement
- Dorian Boccolacci Signature Dallara/Volkswagen 10 Retirement
- Fabian Schiller Team West-Tec F3 Dallara/Mercedes 5 Retirement
- Santino Ferrucci KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 0 Retirement
- Pietro Fittipaldi Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes 0 Withdrawn


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