Lucas Auer took his second victory of the season and only the third of the year for Mücke Motorsport in race three of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship event at the Nurburgring.
The Austrian made a good move to take the lead from Tom Blomqvist on the first lap after the safety car period came to an end, and held off the British racer’s stern challenge until the end of the race.
Max Verstappen claimed the final spot on the podium for Van Amersfoort Racing after finally getting past Prema Powerteam driver Antonio Fuoco after an almost race long battle. It was even sweeter for the Dutch driver after being forced to start twelfth after incurring a grid penalty for an engine change.
The safety car was introduced after a first corner accident that eliminated race two winner Antonio Giovinazzi of Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, championship leader Esteban Ocon, and Ocon’s Prema Powerteam team-mates Nicholas Latifi and Dennis van de Laar.
After four laps behind the safety car, Auer got a good run on Blomqvist down the pit straight on the restart, and then made the move stick as he ran alongside the Briton around turns two and three and into turn four. Blomqvist passed Auer once into turn one but ran too wide and the Austrian re-took that place and was never headed again.
Verstappen pulled away from Fuoco once he managed to find a way past, once again into turn one, while the Italian had to hold off the advances of Briton Jordan King of Carlin, who ultimately was forced to settle for fifth.
Roy Nissany snatched sixth place on the final lap for Mücke Motorsport, getting ahead of the Team West-Tec F3 machine of Felix Serralles, while Tatiana Calderon scored her second top ten result of the day in eighth for Jo Zeller Racing.
Jake Dennis scored his first points of the weekend in ninth place for Carlin, as did Jules Szymkowiak in tenth for Van Amersfoort Racing.
Felix Rosenqvist was another high profile casualty during the race, losing his first front wing at the first corner on the first lap, and then having climbed to the end of the battle for sixth, albeit down in thirteenth, was forced off the road by the ThreeBond with T-Sport machine of Richard Goddard, and then clipped the back of the Australian’s car breaking his second front wing. The Mücke Motorsport driver was forced to retire, while Goddard earned a drive through penalty for forcing the Swede off the road.
Nurburgring Race 3 Result
| POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Lucas Auer | AUT | Mücke Motorsport | 35m28.675s |
| 2 | Tom Blomqvist | GBR | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | +0.476s |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | NED | Van Amersfoort Racing | +3.623s |
| 4 | Antonio Fuoco | ITA | Prema Powerteam | +4.945s |
| 5 | Jordan King | GBR | Carlin | +5.238s |
| 6 | Roy Nissany | ISR | Mücke Motorsport | +17.415s |
| 7 | Felix Serralles | PUE | Team West-Tec F3 | +18.599s |
| 8 | Tatiana Calderon | COL | Jo Zeller Racing | +19.434s |
| 9 | Jake Dennis | GBR | Carlin | +20.175s |
| 10 | Jules Szymkowiak | NED | Van Amersfoort Racing | +20.770s |
| 11 | Sean Galael | INO | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | +21.295s |
| 12 | Alexander Toril | ESP | ThreeBond with T-Sport | +23.088s |
| 13 | Gustavo Menezes | USA | Van Amersfoort Racing | +26.453s |
| 14 | Santino Ferrucci | USA | EuroInternational | +32.265s |
| 15 | Michele Beretta | ITA | EuroInternational | +44.592s |
| 16 | Sandro Zeller | SWI | Jo Zeller Racing | +45.316s |
| 17 | Richard Goddard | AUS | ThreeBond with T-Sport | +57.428s |
| 18 | Wing Chung Chang | MAC | Team West-Tec F3 | +1m01.300s |
| RET | Felix Rosenqvist | SWE | Mücke Motorsport | 19 Laps |
| RET | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 0 Laps |
| RET | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Prema Powerteam | 0 Laps |
| RET | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Prema Powerteam | 0 Laps |
| RET | Dennis van de Laar | NED | Prema Powerteam | 0 Laps |
| DNS | Ed Jones | UAE | Carlin | 0 Laps |
