Signature driver Marco Wittmann converted his first Euroseries pole position into his first victory at the Hockenheimring, as the German led home team mate Edoardo Mortara and ART's Valtteri Bottas. Wittmann was jumped in the race to the first corner by Prema's Daniel Juncadella, but regained the position before the end of the first lap to secure victory by a comfortable 6.5 seconds.
Briton Alex Sims had a big accident at turn 2 on the first lap as he ran over the car of Laurens Vanthoor, leading to the retirement of both drivers. Bottas meanwhile had to overcome an engine problem which, coupled with the fact that he escaped a big moment trying to push his ailing Dallara, made his third place all the more impressive, as he explained after the race, “I expected a close race. Initially, it went quite well, but then I started having problems in the lower rev ranges and therefore I had difficulties accelerating out of the corners. The only thing I could do was try to defend third place.”
Briton Adrian Quaife-Hobbs came home in fifth place, behind Roberto Mehri and ahead of ART's Esteban Gutierrez.
Wittmann, who now jointly leads the series going into tomorrow's second race, was brimming with confidence, “Scoring my maiden victory in the Formula 3 Euro Series in a round in Germany is fine. Compared to last year, I have improved, I am making fewer mistakes and so far, my Signature team has been doing a great job, too.”
