The young German took full advantage of the eventful first lap of the race, which ultimately lead to the retirement of four other drivers in the field. Nevertheless, a strong race for the 17-year old, securing his first win in the seventh round of the official FIA Championship.

An action-packed start

Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam) who had scored maximum results in the first race, also had an optimal starting position for the second race. The driver from Barcelona started on pole, joined by Felix Rosenqvist (Mucke Motorsport) on the first starting row. After the lights were turned off, Juncadella had a good start, but chose a very defensive line to keep his first position towards Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist had no other option than to leave the track and collided with the wall in his course.

The Swedish driver was the first, but not the last to retire that same lap. Andrea Roda with starting number eight also collided and retired in the first few turns, after which mayhem continued for Raffaele Marcielo and Sven Muller. Both drivers had a collision, Muller stranded in the gravel whilst Marciello could find a way to bring his damaged singleseater to the pitlane. Moments after the last incident, race control took the decision to deploy the safety car, ensuring the safe removal of the three cars that had seen an early finish to their second race.

Behind safetycar, it was Juncadella in the lead, followed by Wehrlein (Mucke Motorsport) and Buller (Carlin). When the race continued at the start of the fourth lap, race control decided the line of Juncadella at the start had been too defensive, and punished the leader with a drive through penalty. The Prema Powerdriver came in on the sixth lap, which threw him to the back of the field.

Fights continue

In the fight for third position, Carlos Sainz Jr (Carlin) received a push from Alexander Sims in the seventh lap. Sainz spun, Sims damaged the front wing of his car and had to pay a visit to his team in pitlane in order to continue his race. The spin of Sainz brought him back to an eighth place, just behind Angolan driver Luis Sa Silva. It was the start of a battle that would last for a number of laps, enabling Juncadella to join in the fight for seventh position. Whilst Sainz fought with Sa Silva, Juncadella tried to turn the situation to his advantage and pass Sainz. However, the two Spanish touched and Juncadella left the race pointless. Sainz received a drive through penalty for causing a collision.

Maiden victory Wehrlein

In the meantime, Pascal Wehrlein had worked on a progressing gap towards William Buller, resulting in a 9 second advantage in the last phase of the race. Allthough Buller reached the same pace as Wehrlein in the last few laps, the space in between was too large to ever threaten the German’s lead.

As the two frontrunners Juncadella and Marciello were left without points for this race, the others are able to find the connection and close in. Although Juncadella is still in charge with 171 points, Marciello follows with Sainz, Wehrlein is in fourth position now. Buller in fifth place just misses 5 points on the number four, ensuring an interesting continuation of the championship next week.

The next and eight round of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship will be held at Zandvoort, the Netherlands on the 25th and 26th of August 2012.

The races are available on live timing and streaming via http://www.f3euroseries.com/live/ and http://www.f3euroseries.com/livestream/

Result Race 2:

1. Wehrlein* in 29 laps, 40 minutes and 59.495, 2. Buller* + 9.474, 3. Jaafar + 18.188, 4. Bernstorff *+ 18.836, 5. Blomqvist* + 19.965, 6. Lewis* +22.389, 7. Sa Silva* + 38.049, 8. Wolf* + 41.182, 9. Zeller + 51.630, 10. Sainz Junior* + 53.000

* Drivers registered to FIA, scoring points for FIA European Formula 3 Championship

Points after 7 rounds of FIA European Formula 3 Championship:

1. Juncadella with 171 points, 2. Marciello 157,5, 3. Sainz Jr 143, 4. Wehrlein 102, 5. Buller 97, 6. Rosenqvist 80, 7. Lewis 75, 8. Muller 67, 9. Blomqvist 64, 10. Bernstorff 36, 11. Wolf 8, 12. Sa Silva 6, 13. Roda 1