Roberto Merhi takes 10th F3 Euro Series win of 2011 at Hockenheim

Merhi, who secured the title last time out at Valencia, made a rocket start from pole position, and the Prema Powerteam driver held a 1.5s lead at the end of the first lap.

Front-row starter Rosenqvist was beaten into the first corner by Laurens Vanthoor as his handbrake stuck on momentarily on the line, but the Swede outbraked his rival at the hairpin to get alongside, and then used the grunt of his Mercedes engine to move his Mucke car ahead of the Volkswagen-powered Signature car to take the spot into the Arena.

Rosenqvist then knuckled down and reduced the gap to Merhi from almost 2s to just 0.6s by half-distance. However, despite closing in under braking for the hairpin on a number of mid-race laps, he could not get close enough to attempt a passing move and settled for second.

Merhi's win ensured that Prema won the teams' championship, with neither Mucke nor Signature now able to overhaul the Italian outift.

Third place went to Vanthoor, who was minus its sixth gear. He came under pressure late in the race from his Signature team-mate Marco Wittmann. The latter had passed the third Signature car of Daniel Abt for fourth at the hairpin on lap four; one lap after going wheel-to-wheel with him as they entered the Arena.

Nigel Melker and Daniel Juncadella were sixth and seventh for the Mucke and Prema teams respectively; the latter having pulled off some impressive overtaking moves. He dropped as low as 10th on the opening lap after tagging the back of series debutant Carlos Sainz Jr.

Sainz slowed immediately after the light contact and pitted at the end of the opening lap. After looking at the left-rear suspension and hub of his car, the Signature mechanics sent him back out, but the Spaniard later retired.

Kimiya Sato was another who failed to make the finish, the Motopark driver pulling off with his Dallara smoking on the approach to the Arena. His retirement allowed Facunco Regalia to finish in the top 10 on his series debut, behind Jimmy Eriksson.

Race 1 Results - 25 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                 Time/Gap
 1.  Roberto Merhi       Prema Dallara-Merc     39m19.119s
 2.  Felix Rosenqvist    Mucke Dallara-Merc       + 0.976s
 3.  Laurens Vanthoor    Signature Dallara-VW     + 7.828s
 4.  Marco Wittmann      Signature Dallara-VW     + 8.571s
 5.  Daniel Abt          Signature Dallara-VW    + 21.532s
 6.  Nigel Melker        Mucke Dallara-Merc      + 22.003s
 7.  Daniel Juncadella   Prema Dallara-Merc      + 23.134s
 8.  Carlos Munoz        Signature Dallara-VW    + 30.530s
 9.  Jimmy Eriksson      Motopark Dallara-VW     + 34.395s
10.  Facu Regalia        Mucke Dallara-Merc      + 35.235s
11.  Sandro Zeller       Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc  + 45.394s
12.  Artem Markelov      Motopark Dallara-VW     + 46.297s

Retirements:

     Gianmarco Raimondo  Prema Dallara-Merc        18 laps
     Kimiya Sato         Motopark Dallara-VW       10 laps
     Carlos Sainz Jr     Signature Dallara-VW       8 laps