Nurburgring European F3: Auer wins as Verstappen gains title ground
Lucas Auer won race three of the European Formula 3 Championship weekend at the Nurburgring for Mucke Motorsport, just managing to hold off a frustrated Tom Blomqvist
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
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