Marciello wins hands down – Josh Hill stuns the crowd!

04.05.13
While Rafaelle Marciello’s win strengthens his position at the head of the championship even further, Josh Hill’s stunning overtaking manoeuvre was the highlight of the race.

Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam) scored a flag to flag victory, his fifth this season, but this time in dry conditions as the Ferrari Driver Academy protégé strolled away from his rivals. However, it wasn’t quite as easy as it looked. “I really had to work my tyres hard at the end of the race as they were completely worn out and I wasn’t in the best of situations. Luckily, I was able to take advantage of the battle between the drivers behind me to open up a gap,” analysed the Italian. “Whether it’s wet or dry isn’t important to me; what counts is victory. On Sunday in the third race I’ll be starting from tenth place on the grid so it’ll be a different story.”

Hearing “Fratelli d’Italia” being played has become almost a habit in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, but the real hero of the race was Josh Hill (Fortec Motorsports). Watched by his dad, Damon, F1 world champion in 1996, the Fortec Motorsports driver showed great maturity as he clinched the first top-3 finish of his career in Formula 3. He pulled off a pass that is the stuff of legends by overtaking Tom Blomqvist (Eurointernational) and Lucas Auer (Prema Powerteam) in the same corner. Josh was over the moon at the end of the race. 
 
“Don’t forget that I have less experience than all the other drivers in the championship,” he admitted. “Apart from official testing I didn’t do any driving during the winter. I’m learning and I’m progressing in each race. To be honest my objective was to finish on the podium towards the end of the season. Now I want to win and clinch the best Rookie award. This result is a real boost all the more so as I’m still looking for partners.”
 
“Coming back to my pass, I was as quick as Tom Blomqvist and Lucas Auer who were battling for second place. They were too caught up in their own private scrap and they went too wide in a corner. I took advantage of this to pass them both! It was a pretty opportunistic move and I don’t regret it. It’s the first time this season that my father’s been present. He’s a dad just like the others except that he gives me a lot of advice from a technical point of view. Normally, when he’s around the results don’t follow. I’m glad I’ve broken this bad habit!”
 
Tom Blomqvist was the last podium finisher. Marciello now has 156.5 points and is firmly installed in the lead in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Behind him, though, it’s tightened up as Felix Rosenqvist (kftzeiel24 Mücke Motorsport), Lucas Auer, Harry Tincknell (Carlin) and Alex Lynn (Prema Powerteam) are covered by 8.5 points! The battle continues tomorrow (Sunday) with the third race on the Hockenheim circuit.