Monza European F3: Ferrari protege Marciello controls race one

From third on the grid, the Ferrari protege launched his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes ahead of team-mate Lucas Auer and the Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes of Pascal Wehrlein, and controlled the race to the finish.

Wehrlein clung on to second place from Auer for half the race, but on the 10th lap of 19 the Austrian went around the DTM-bound German into the Roggia chicane.

Wehrlein then gave chase, setting fastest lap in Auer's tow, but a mistake into the Rettifilo chicane three laps from home consigned him to third.

Marciello was delighted with his win. "I started very well," he said. "I had one second to Pascal and this was good, because it was difficult for him to get a slipstream. My car was very fantastic and consistent, and it's great to win my home race."

Will Buller scythed his way through from 12th on the grid to fifth in the early stages with the ThreeBond Nissan-powered T-Sport Dallara, and with five laps to go he passed the Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen of Harry Tincknell to take fourth.

Behind them, a battle for sixth between Felix Rosenqvist and Tom Blomqvist ended with Blomqvist taking his former Swedish Formula Renault Championship rival out at the Rettifilo chicane, earning a drive-through penalty for his offence.

That promoted another big battle, between Felix Serralles and Jordan King. There were numerous changes of position, and some contact, before the Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes pilot beat the Carlin man to sixth.

Alex Lynn was closing in by the end. The Brit went down the escape road at the Rettifilo on the opening lap and had to clamber out of an enormous midfield battle before taking eighth in his Prema machine.

The top 10 was completed by Dennis van de Laar (Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-VW) and the fourth Prema car of Eddie Cheever.

Here were numerous incidents, two of which put paid to the hopes of British drivers.

Josh Hill was forced to pit at the end of the opening lap with front-wing damage and rejoined to finish a lap down, while Nissan GT Academy starlet Jann Mardenborough was in the big midfield group, on the cusp of the top 10, when he went out with a broken wing as a result of contact with Lucas Wolf with three laps remaining.

Results - 19 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                           Time/Gap
 1.  Raffaele Marciello  Prema Dallara-Merc               33m27.878s
 2.  Lucas Auer          Prema Dallara-Merc                 + 2.079s
 3.  Pascal Wehrlein     Mucke Dallara-Merc                 + 5.200s
 4.  Will Buller         T-Sport Dallara-Nissan            + 13.956s
 5.  Harry Tincknell     Carlin Dallara-VW                 + 15.855s
 6.  Felix Serralles     Fortec Dallara-Merc               + 23.933s
 7.  Jordan King         Carlin Dallara-VW                 + 24.316s
 8.  Alex Lynn           Prema Dallara-Merc                + 27.867s
 9.  Dennis van de Laar  Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW         + 34.768s
10.  Eddie Cheever       Prema Dallara-Merc                + 35.304s
11.  Pipo Derani         Fortec Dallara-Merc               + 36.399s
12.  Sven Muller         Ma-con Dallara-VW                 + 45.153s
13.  Tom Blomqvist       Eurointernational Dallara-Merc    + 55.303s
14.  Sean Gelael         Double R Dallara-Merc             + 56.183s
15.  Spike Goddard       T-Sport Dallara-Nissan            + 56.694s
16.  Nicholas Latifi     Carlin Dallara-VW                 + 57.796s
17.  Dmitry Suranovic    Fortec Dallara-Merc               + 59.794s
18.  Sandro Zeller       Zeller Dallara-Merc             + 1m00.737s
19.  Tatiana Calderon    Double R Dallara-Merc           + 1m04.155s
20.  Andre Rudersdorf    Ma-con Dallara-VW               + 1m31.679s
21.  Michela Cerruti     Ferraris Dallara-Merc           + 1m33.147s
22.  Antonio Giovinazzi  Double R Dallara-Merc               + 1 lap
23.  Josh Hill           Fortec Dallara-Merc                 + 1 lap
24.  Gary Thompson       Ferraris Dallara-Merc               + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Mitchell Gilbert    Mucke Dallara-Merc                  16 laps
     Jann Mardenborough  Carlin Dallara-VW                   16 laps
     Lucas Wolf          URD Dallara-Merc                    16 laps
     Felix Rosenqvist    Mucke Dallara-Merc                  10 laps
     Roy Nissany         Mucke Dallara-Merc                   0 laps
     Mans Grenhagen      Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW            0 laps