Nurburgring F3: Felix Rosenqvist wins again in race two

Once again the title favourite made a perfect getaway, and he also aced two safety-car restarts in a race that was more dramatic than the earlier event.

The Swede initially led the sister Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes of rookie team-mate Lance Stroll, but Stroll was noticeably less sharp than his experienced team leader at the restarts.

At the second one, Antonio Giovinazzi saw his opportunity and barrelled down the inside of Stroll at the final corner to muscle his Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen into second place.

"I made a little mistake at the chicane [when Rosenqvist hit the throttle]," said Stroll. "I defended a bit, then went back to the racing line, but his last-minute move was really impressive. Fair play to him."

But there was no way Giovinazzi could stop Rosenqvist, who extended his advantage to almost five seconds by the finish.

"I had my better tyres in this race, so I could just put my foot down and get good lap times in the middle of the race," said the winner.

"Then my engineer said I had no threat and I was able to enjoy the nice car I was driving."

Jake Dennis, who was third on the grid behind Prema team-mates Rosenqvist and Stroll, lost out in a three-wide battle for second into Turn 1, and held fourth for the remainder of the race.

Likewise, Charles Leclerc was fifth throughout in his Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-VW, with Nick Cassidy making it all four Prema cars in the top six.

The result means Rosenqvist now leads Giovinazzi by 65.5 points, and only needs to be 75 in front after Sunday's race to become champion one round early; Leclerc is now 81.5 behind, while Dennis has dropped out of mathematical contention.

A win for Rosenqvist on Sunday will give him the title, as long as Giovinazzi (who starts third) does not finish second.

Cassidy had come under a bit of pressure before the first safety car from Santino Ferrucci, but the Mucke Motorsport driver had to turn his attentions to holding off George Russell's Carlin machine in the late stages, Russell having zapped Mikkel Jensen at the first restart.

As Jensen ran wide he was also passed by Callum Ilott for ninth, with the points-scoring positions remaining unchanged for the rest of the race.

The first safety car was caused when Alessio Lorandi ploughed into Nabil Jeffri at Turn 1, and then parked his car with deranged suspension in the runoff at Turn 3. The second was caused when Gustavo Menezes sailed into the gravel trap at Turn 1 at the first restart.

RACE TWO RESULT