Nurburgring European F3: Auer wins as Verstappen gains title ground

Max Verstappen, whose title charge seemed hopeless when a change of engine following his race two retirement left him with a 10-place grid penalty for this and the next two races, came home third.

Meanwhile championship leader Esteban Ocon failed to score after being involved in a first-corner incident, meaning that against the odds van Amersfoort Racing's Verstappen has taken another significant bite out of Ocon's lead.

Carlin Motorsport driver Blomqvist got the jump from pole this time around, getting ahead of Auer despite being pushed wide after an attempted pass by Felix Rosenqvist at Turn 1.

Meanwhile Ocon, race two winner Antonio Giovinazzi and Ocon's Prema Powerteam team-mate Nicholas Latifi were all eliminated as the three came together at the first corner.

After the ensuing safety car Auer made an excellent move for the lead as he raced side by side with Blomqvist through the stadium section, and held onto a narrow advantage until the end of the race.

New Red Bull junior Verstappen, who started 12th after his penalty, found himself fifth after the first-corner chaos. He then passed Jordan King and Antonio Fuoco to take the final podium spot.

Verstappen is now 77 points behind championship leader Ocon.

Results - 24 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                          Time/Gap
 1.  Lucas Auer          Mucke Dallara-Merc              35m28.675s
 2.  Tom Blomqvist       Carlin Dallara-VW                  +0.476s
 3.  Max Verstappen      Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW          +3.623s
 4.  Antonio Fuoco       Prema Dallara-Merc                 +4.945s
 5.  Jordan King         Carlin-Dallara VW                  +5.238s
 6.  Roy Nissany         Mucke Dallara-Merc                +17.415s
 7.  Felix Serralles     West-Tec Dallara-Merc             +18.599s
 8.  Tatiana Calderon    Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc            +19.434s
 9.  Jake Dennis         Carlin Dallara-VW                 +20.175s
10.  Jules Szymkowiak    Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW         +20.770s
11.  Sean Gelael         Carlin Dallara-VW                 +21.295s
12.  Alexander Toril     T-Sport Dallara-NBE               +23.088s
13.  Gustavo Menezes     Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW         +26.453s
14.  Santino Ferruci     Eurointernational Dallara-Merc    +32.265s
15.  Michele Beretta     Eurointernational Dallara-Merc    +44.592s
16.  Sandro Zeller       Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc            +45.316s
17.  Spike Goddard       T-Sport Dallara-NBE               +57.428s
18.  Andy Chang          West-Tec Dallara-Merc           +1m01.300s

Retirements:

    Felix Rosenqvist     Mucke Dallara-Merc                 19 laps
    Esteban Ocon         Prema Dallara-Merc                  0 laps
    Antonio Giovinazzi   Carlin Dallara-VW                   0 laps
    Nicholas Latifi      Prema Dallara-Merc                  0 laps
    Dennis van der Laar  Prema Dallara-Merc                  0 laps
    Ed Jones             Carlin Dallara-VW                      DNS