European F3 Zandvoort: Motopark's Markus Pommer gets first win
Markus Pommer took his maiden Formula 3 European Championship win - and the first for the Motopark team since its 2015 return - in a safety-car-marred third race at Zandvoort
The German won it at the start when, from second on the grid, he made a better getaway than poleman Antonio Giovinazzi and was able to lead the field into the Tarzanbocht.
The race seemed to be shaping up nicely, with Giovinazzi and Felix Rosenqvist - the two winners of the weekend to date - staying close to Pommer, but the safety car was called on the fourth lap due to an off for Matt Solomon.
At the restart, some midfield argy-bargy resulted in Gustavo Menezes dropping down the field and Mikkel Jensen getting spat into the barriers on the run to the Hans Ernst chicane, meaning the race went under caution again.
The field didn't even get that far when the race was restarted for a second time, with Menezes and Nicolas Pohler crashing heavily into the barriers at the left-handed kink after Tarzan.
That left just a four-lap dash to the finish, and Pommer managed to keep the Carlin car of Giovinazzi at bay and Rosenqvist's Prema Powerteam machine was in turn just adrift of the Italian.
"The start was the key for this race, because at Zandvoort it's nearly impossible to overtake - you need to be one to two seconds faster," said Pommer.
"At first the car was quite fast, but I was worried about the tyres because our set-up was aggressive - I think the safety cars were very good for me."
Pommer's win salved the bitterness from the second race, where he was given a 20-second post-race time penalty after finishing fourth due to triggering the shunt that led to the elimination of Lance Stroll and, eventually, Charles Leclerc.
Prema twins Jake Dennis and Lance Stroll, and Carlin driver George Russell, ran fourth, fifth and sixth respectively throughout the short racing distance.
Buoyed by his first points score on Saturday, Ryan Tveter made a good start to run seventh, but lost out to Sergio Sette Camara on the opening lap, then to Alexander Albon when the Anglo-Thai made a heroic move into Scheivlak on lap two.
Santino Ferrucci then passed Tveter into Tarzan at the final restart, and then Tveter handed Leclerc the final point when he flew off the road at the Arie Luyendijkbocht that leads onto the pit straight.
Leclerc's miserable weekend ended with him losing the championship lead to Giovinazzi, who is now seven and a half points clear heading to the Red Bull Ring, where he scored his first pole and win last season.
RESULTS - 19 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Markus Pommer | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 36m04.922s |
2 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.544s |
3 | Felix Rosenqvist | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.213s |
4 | Jake Dennis | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.886s |
5 | Lance Stroll | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 3.865s |
6 | George Russell | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 4.658s |
7 | Sergio Sette Camara | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 5.087s |
8 | Alexander Albon | Signature | Dallara/Volkswagen | 5.605s |
9 | Santino Ferrucci | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 6.562s |
10 | Charles Leclerc | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 7.696s |
11 | Raoul Hyman | Team West-Tec F3 | Dallara/Mercedes | 8.176s |
12 | Maximilian Guenther | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 9.311s |
13 | Fabian Schiller | Team West-Tec F3 | Dallara/Mercedes | 11.070s |
14 | Tatiana Calderon | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 11.686s |
15 | Michele Beretta | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 12.921s |
16 | Sam MacLeod | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 13.063s |
17 | Arjun Maini | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 13.998s |
18 | Nabil Jeffri | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 14.690s |
19 | Alessio Lorandi | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Volkswagen | 16.244s |
20 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 16.923s |
21 | Andy Chang | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 18.194s |
22 | Callum Ilott | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 18.715s |
23 | Kang Ling | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | 19.898s |
24 | Julio Moreno | ThreeBond with T-Sport | Dallara/NBE | 20.212s |
25 | Dorian Boccolacci | Signature | Dallara/Volkswagen | 20.530s |
26 | Zhi Cong Li | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 21.277s |
27 | Matt Rao | Fortec Motorsports | Dallara/Mercedes | 21.694s |
28 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 22.647s |
29 | Brandon Maisano | Prema Powerteam | Dallara/Mercedes | 23.624s |
30 | Ryan Tveter | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 2 Laps |
- | Nicolas Pohler | Double R Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | Retirement |
- | Gustavo Menezes | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | Retirement |
- | Mikkel Jensen | KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport | Dallara/Mercedes | Retirement |
- | Matt Solomon | Double R Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | Retirement |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Antonio Giovinazzi | 288 |
2 | Charles Leclerc | 280.5 |
3 | Felix Rosenqvist | 261 |
4 | Jake Dennis | 216 |
5 | George Russell | 146 |
6 | Alexander Albon | 132 |
7 | Maximilian Guenther | 118 |
8 | Lance Stroll | 89 |
9 | Mikkel Jensen | 81.5 |
10 | Markus Pommer | 70.5 |
11 | Santino Ferrucci | 64 |
12 | Brandon Maisano | 53 |
13 | Gustavo Menezes | 48 |
14 | Callum Ilott | 32 |
15 | Sergio Sette Camara | 29 |
16 | Dorian Boccolacci | 26 |
17 | Alessio Lorandi | 26 |
18 | Arjun Maini | 23 |
19 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 16 |
20 | Raoul Hyman | 12.5 |
21 | Ryan Tveter | 2 |
22 | Sam MacLeod | 2 |
23 | Fabian Schiller | 2 |
24 | Nabil Jeffri | 2 |
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