Joel Eriksson converted his pole position into a second race victory of the season to reclaim the lead in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in race two at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Sunday.
The Motopark driver got the jump at the start and pulled out more than a three second advantage in the early laps, and despite a late race charge from Lando Norris similar to that he did in race one, he held on for the win by 0.735 seconds.
Norris had started on the front row alongside Eriksson but once again the Carlin driver struggled off the line to fall to fourth behind Prema Powerteam duo Mick Schumacher and Callum Ilott, although he managed to re-pass the latter quickly into the Rettifilo chicane.
It took until lap six for Norris to work his way back into second as he completed his pass on Schumacher heading into the first Lesmo bend after setting it up heading into the second chicane, however the gap Eriksson had made at the front made it impossible for him to get close enough before the end to attack for the win.
Schumacher fell back from the front two but drove superbly to claim his maiden podium finish, while team-mate Maximilian Günther made the most of the slipstreaming and chaos to finish fourth ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg, who climbed back up to fifth despite being pushed off track on the opening lap at Curva Grande.
Habsburg looked to have had the speed to pass Günther, but the Austrian was forced to concede position at Rettifilo with three laps remaining, running across the run-off and losing momentum.
Guan Yu Zhou finished sixth for Prema Powerteam ahead of a disappointed Ilott, who for the second race in succession could not fight at the front of the field, while the points paying positions were completed by Jehan Daruvala, Ralf Aron and Nikita Mazepin.
Harrison Newey and Jake Dennis were fighting amongst those who finished in the points, with Newey in particular looking strong as he fought from eleventh place on the grid to run fifth for Van Amersfoort Racing, but the two clashed at Rettifilo, giving the Carlin driver a puncture and causing front wing damage to Newey, with both ending their afternoon’s in the pits.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza Race 2 Result
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