Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

European F3 Pau: Jake Dennis wins again in race two

Jake Dennis continued his superb weekend in Pau by taking his second win of the day in the Formula 3 European Championship

Dennis led all the way in a chaotic race that first went three times under the safety car, and was even red-flagged before an eight-minute resumption to the finish, which began under the inevitable safety car, making its fourth appearance of the race.

The Racing Steps-backed 2012 McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner said it was much easier this time, and that was principally because another bad start from front-row partner Charles Leclerc allowed Maximilian Gunther into second place.

After an early safety car, caused by Matt Solomon hitting the wall at Pont Oscar, German rookie Gunther kept at bay a train comprising Leclerc, Antonio Giovinazzi and Arjun Maini as Dennis raced clear to a comfortable lead in his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes.

Leclerc, driving with one eye on points, couldn't get into position to make a move on Gunther, before the rhythm of the race was disrupted on the 15th lap when the safety car appeared again, due to Julio Moreno being parked half on the track, half on the pavement on the approach to the Lycee hairpin.

The race had just restarted when Alessio Lorandi, battling in the midfield after stalling at the start, dived down the inside of Michele Beretta at Lycee; the two Italians made contact, with Beretta spinning and causing a tangle of cars.

They all disentwined pretty rapidly and continued, but the safety car had been hastily called.

At the next restart, Gunther was caught out by Dennis's ultra-slow field-controlling pace at the final chicane, hitting the race leader and damaging his front wing.

Leclerc went for the inside at the Gare corner, and took second place as Gunther slid wide. Then Giovinazzi went side by side with Gunther, finally spearing inside at Lycee.

Gunther understeered into the barrier as the Italian went past, and an enormous traffic jam was caused, with some cars mounting the rear of others, prompting the red flag.

With Leclerc's tyres adversely affected by his lengthy time behind Gunther, all Dennis had to do was keep his cool over the final sprint to the flag.

"I didn't even know Gunther had hit me until my engineer told me over the radio," said Dennis.

"He said, 'Have you got any issues with the car?' I said, 'No, why?'. And he said, 'Well, someone hit you'.

"At the end I did one or two push laps, then I thought, 'OK, I've got a two-second lead, I'll back off.' The car was exceptional."

Van Amersfoort Racing man Leclerc kept up his title challenge with second, while Carlin-run Jagonya Ayam protege Giovinazzi kept up his 100 per cent podium record in 2015 to retain his championship lead.

With Felix Rosenqvist making a bold pass on Alex Albon for fifth at the final restart, it looked as though Maini's days were numbered in fourth place, but the Indian held firm to take his first F3 points.

On the penultimate lap Albon dropped off the tail of this duo and behind George Russell, who completed a rise from 12th on the grid to finish sixth.

RACE TWO RESULT:

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Jake Dennis Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 27 49m15.706s
2 Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Volkswagen 27 0.662s
3 Antonio Giovinazzi Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 2.736s
4 Arjun Maini Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Volkswagen 27 5.468s
5 Felix Rosenqvist Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 27 5.979s
6 George Russell Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 9.711s
7 Alexander Albon Signature Dallara/Volkswagen 27 11.023s
8 Markus Pommer Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 27 11.972s
9 Sam MacLeod Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 27 15.644s
10 Lance Stroll Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 27 15.927s
11 Santino Ferrucci KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 27 17.347s
12 Mikkel Jensen KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 27 17.651s
13 Alessio Lorandi Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Volkswagen 27 18.366s
14 Gustavo Menezes Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 19.010s
15 Callum Ilott Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 19.342s
16 Martin Cao Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes 27 20.177s
17 Nabil Jeffri Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 27 20.923s
18 Maximilian Guenther KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 27 21.576s
19 Tatiana Calderon Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 22.186s
20 Sergio Sette Camara Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 27 22.689s
21 Ryan Tveter Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 27 23.666s
22 Raoul Hyman Team West-Tec F3 Dallara/Mercedes 27 25.148s
23 Nicolas Pohler Double R Racing Dallara/Mercedes 27 26.643s
24 Matt Rao Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes 27 27.024s
25 Gustav Malja EuroInternational Dallara/Mercedes 27 32.958s
26 Dorian Boccolacci Signature Dallara/Volkswagen 26 1 Lap
- Michele Beretta KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 25 Retirement
- Brandon Maisano Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 19 Retirement
- Kang Ling KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 19 Retirement
- Fabian Schiller Team West-Tec F3 Dallara/Mercedes 19 Retirement
- Julio Moreno ThreeBond with T-Sport Dallara/NBE 13 Retirement
- Matt Solomon Double R Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1 Retirement
- Pietro Fittipaldi Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes 0 Withdrawn


Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Pau European F3: Prema's Jake Dennis takes first victory
Next article Pau Grand Prix: Antonio Giovinazzi wins GP title with F3 victory

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe