In only his 2nd ever F3 Euroseries race, Marco Sørensen secured his maiden win in Round 20 of the 2011 season at Silverstone on Saturday, as the Danish invitational driver made the most of a front row grid slot, before fending off championship contenders Roberto Merhi and Daniel Juncadella to claim victory.
Starting in 2nd place alongside Kimiya Sato for Race 2, a poor start from the Japanese pole-sitter allowed Sørensen to pass easily into the lead. Sato was also swallowed by Juncadella shortly after turn 1, but an appearance by the safety car after Alon Day’s car stalled on the grid stopped the Spaniard from mounting an immediate challenge for the lead.
The race resumed shortly afterwards, and this time it was Merhi moving forward from 8th on the grid. Merhi made up several places on the opening lap before setting his sights on 4th placed Sato, whom he quickly dispatched. With the sprint race only lasting 10 laps however, there was little time for Merhi to overhaul his team-mate Juncadella, who was keeping Sørensen earnest as the race drew to a close. Neither could advance however, meaning the débutante would claim his first F3 win at only his second attempt.
“Of course, I am happy having won the race.” said Marco, “When the safety car was deployed, I was already disappointed, because I lost my advantage like that. Moreover, having two Prema cars behind me wasn’t really comforting. But I was able to keep the gap.”
Though Sorensen took the victory, as a guest driver he is technically ineligible to score championship points, meaning Juncadella takes 10 points for his ‘win’ – something he was keen to point out afterwards. “I am very happy with second place, particularly as I am getting the points for victory, because Marco isn’t eligible to score as a guest driver. This time, my start was good, I made it up from sixth to second. Eventually, Marco was just a little bit quicker.” he said.
