Marco Wittmann scored his and the Signature team's first victory of a disappointing campaign so far in the third race of the Formula 3 Euro Series round at Zandvoort.
The German began the race from pole position and held off an attack from Felix Rosenqvist early on to win. Rosenqvist and fellow Mucke driver Nigel Melker remained in pursuit of Wittmann for the entirety of the race but had to settle for second and third respectively.
“My start was good, but I had a lot of work defending my first place against Felix in the first few laps,” said Wittmann after the race. “It seems that the Mucke cars were quicker in the opening stages. Then, I was able to pull a slight gap and to keep it. All in all, today was a good day for us.”
Rosenqvist scored his third podium finish of the weekend. “On the opening lap, I tried to attack Marco. When I wasn't successful, I decided to rather save my tyres and wait for him to make a mistake. With three podium finishes, the weekend here at Zandvoort was better than I had expected.”
Melker added: “I am happy with my third place. My race wasn't error-free, but I am a rookie and I am still allowed to learn.”
Roberto Merhi finished fourth for Prema, with Daniel Abt of Signature fifth. Remaining Signature drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Carlos Munoz finished sixth and eighth respectively, split by Motopark's Jimmy Eriksson.
A third and two fourth-place finishes were enough to see Merhi extend his points lead to 23 points. A retirement for teammate Daniel Juncadella saw him drop from second to fifth place in the standings behind Wittmann, Rosenqvist and Melker. The next race weekend takes place at the newly-revamped Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on 4/5 June.
Race results after 26 laps:
1. Marco Wittmann Signature 40m02.351s
2. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke + 1.345s
3. Nigel Melker Mucke + 2.080s
4. Roberto Merhi Prema + 6.881s
5. Daniel Abt Signature + 18.824s
6. Laurens Vanthoor Signature + 24.714s
7. Jimmy Eriksson Motopark + 25.928s
8. Carlos Munoz Signature + 26.416s
9. Kuba Giermaziak Star + 35.203s
10. Kimiya Sato Motopark + 35.876s
11. Gianmarco Raimondo Motopark + 41.559s
Ret. Daniel Juncadella Prema 22 laps
