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Euro F3 Hockenheim: Ilott takes crushing victory in Prema 1-2-3

Callum Ilott demolished the field to win the second race of the Formula 3 European Championship finale at Hockenheim

Maximilian Gunther finished second and Guan Yu Zhou completed the podium.

Newly crowned champion Lando Norris finished 11th after running wide early-on.

Ilott, the polesitter, came under pressure in the early stages from Prema Powerteam stablemate Gunther but once he had survived the first three laps the Briton put the hammer down to seal a crushing 11.3-second victory.

Gunther swarmed all over Ilott on the opening lap, trying moves around the outside of Spitzkehre and the Mercedes Arena.

In turn, Zhou was right on the back of his Prema team-mates.

But once Ilott pulled away, Gunther was able to focus on keeping Zhou behind, while battling a "destroyed" front-left tyre after sustaining a flat-spot in his opening-lap battling.

The Prema trio pushed hard throughout, Ilott visibly on the limit and Gunther locking up frequently as he tried to keep Zhou out of reach.

They completed the 1-2-3, which netted Prema the 2017 teams' championship.

"The first few laps I struggled with the brakes," said Ilott.

"We had to change something in them after the first race because of the wear, but once they'd bedded in they were OK.

"I was really comfortable with the car and I was able to be very consistent."

Eventually, Ferrari junior Zhou, whose rear tyres dropped away with a few laps to go, had to concentrate on soaking up a late charge from Joel Eriksson.

Two things saved Zhou: first, the initial start had been aborted due to Joey Mawson stalling on the grid, so the race was shortened; second, Eriksson took until half-distance to find his way around a hard-defending Jake Hughes.

The Swedish Motopark driver finally sealed the deal when he braked late into Mercedes Arena to defend his just-made pass on Hitech GP racer Hughes, Eriksson running wide and forcing Hughes wider still.

Hughes fell to seventh on the road behind Pedro Piquet (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Hitech team-mate Tadasuke Makino on the penultimate lap.

But Hughes gained both places back because Piquet and Makino had each been penalised five seconds for incorrect grid positioning, dropping to seventh and ninth respectively.

Up to sixth came Hitech's Nikita Mazepin, who finished right behind Hughes, and in eighth was the Carlin-run car of Jehan Daruvala, who kept final point scorer Ralf Aron (Hitech) at bay throughout.

Norris was battling for sixth on the opening lap with Eriksson when he ran wide at the Spitzkehre hairpin, then spent most of the race trying to prise 11th away from David Beckmann, which he finally achieved on the penultimate lap.

The result means Eriksson leads Gunther by 12 points in the fight to be championship runner-up going into Sunday's final race, while Ilott is 24 behind Gunther in the battle for third.

Race two results

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Callum Ilott Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 32m41.110s
2 Maximilian Guenther Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 11.339s
3 Guanyu Zhou Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 14.174s
4 Joel Eriksson Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 14.707s
5 Jake Hughes Hitech GP Dallara/Mercedes 23.183s
6 Nikita Mazepin Hitech GP Dallara/Mercedes 23.977s
7 Pedro Piquet Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 25.279s
8 Jehan Daruvala Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 26.941s
9 Tadasuke Makino Hitech GP Dallara/Mercedes 27.527s
10 Ralf Aron Hitech GP Dallara/Mercedes 27.716s
11 Lando Norris Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 30.617s
12 Juri Vips Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 34.218s
13 David Beckmann Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 36.201s
14 Harrison Newey Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 38.520s
15 Joey Mawson Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 41.843s
16 Felipe Drugovich Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 43.957s
17 Devlin Defrancesco Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 44.532s
18 Mick Schumacher Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 46.041s
19 Marino Sato Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 47.272s
20 Ferdinand Habsburg Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m29.606s
- Keyvan Andres Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen Retirement


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