Nigel Melker wins opening F3 Euro Series race at Valencia
Nigel Melker took his fourth F3 Euro Series win of the season with a lights-to-flag victory in the first of three races at Valencia
The Mucke Motorsport driver started from pole and resisted stern pressure from his team-mate Felix Rosenqvist and Roberto Merhi for the duration, eventually crossing the line 0.7s clear.
In a processional race, the only real moment of drama came at the first corner. After making a poor initial getaway from the front row, Merhi hooked second gear perfectly and used Melker's slipstream to tow up behind the Dutchman.
With Rosenqvist making a rocket start from the second row, the trio arrived at the corner three-wide; Melker squeezing Merhi onto the inside kerb and allowing Rosenqvist to sweep around the outside of the Spaniard for second.
It finished that way too, with Rosenqvist and Merhi joining Melker on the podium. The result also means that Prema driver Merhi is now 83 points clear at the head of the championship with only 95 still available. He will be crowned champion in race two if he wins, or beats Marco Wittmann by at least two places.
Wittmann could only finish sixth, behind Prema driver Daniel Juncadella and his own Signature team-mate Carlos Munoz, and ahead of Gianmarco Raimondo, who put in by far his most convincing race performance since joining Prema.
Motopark's Kimiya Sato and Jimmy Eriksson and Signature's Daniel Abt completed the top 10, the latter having been spun out of seventh by his team-mate Laurens Vanthoor on the second lap. Vanthoor received a drive-through penalty for causing the incident.
Results - 27 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Nigel Melker Mucke Dallara-Merc 40m36.210s 2. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc + 0.753s 3. Roberto Merhi Prema Dallara-Merc + 1.813s 4. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc + 4.543s 5. Carlos Munoz Signature Dallara-VW + 32.464s 6. Marco Wittmann Signature Dallara-VW + 32.870s 7. Gianmarco Raimondo Prema Dallara-Merc + 35.533s 8. Kimiya Sato Motopark Dallara-VW + 38.652s 9. Jimmy Eriksson Motopark allara-VW + 45.270s 10. Daniel Abt Signature Dallara-VW + 46.931s 11. Laurens Vanthoor Signature Dallara-VW + 48.373s
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