It was business as usual for the second race of the weekend at Hockenheim, as Raffaele Marciello once again took a dominant hold on proceedings, as he led the race from lights to flag, extending his lead to 81.5 points ahead of his closest rival, Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist, who currently is not able to provide consistent finishes at the sharp end of the grid like his Italian rival.
There was drama on the very first lap as all the drivers were jostling for position going into the hairpin, with Double R Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi again causing chaos, as he clearly missed his braking point. He collided with Carlin’s Jann Mardenborough, who seems to have no luck at the moment, being compromised with incidents that have not been his fault and again retired with the Italian. Threebond with T-Sport’s Spike Goddard and URD Rennsport’s Lucas Wolf were also involved too, meaning that Safety Car was busy for around for four laps keeping the field in check, as the marshals cleared any stricken vehicles and scattered debris.
Four laps later, racing resumed, with Marciello remaining in the lead from Tom Blomqvist, who was really looking racy in second place, with Lucas Auer in third. There were no orders at Fortec Motorsports for their drivers, as Felix Serrallés and Josh Hill were clearly in the hunt for at least a podium finish, as the pair battled hard for fourth place, with the Briton getting the upper hand. Blomqvist made a mistake going into the Motodrom, with Hill taking both his countryman and Auer to climb to second on Lap 10, with the Brit remaining there until the end of the race. This meant he ended up securing his maiden podium and the second for Fortec this weekend, on what has been a breakthrough for the team, who only started competing in this series this season.
Blomqvist again secured his second successive podium, grabbing some welcome points in the process. Auer and Serrallés rounded out the top five, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dutch racer Dennis van de Laar securing 6th place, his best finish yet, ahead of Prema Powerteam’s Alex Lynn, with Sven Muller, Jordan King and Felix Rosenqvist completing the top ten.
Marciello stated that he struggled with the tyres, as the track had provided a lot more grip since the conditions had significantly improved from the damp earlier that day. He was still, nevertheless, happy to have won the race anyhow.
Hill was surprised to be on the podium this early in the season, but was pleased with such a good result after some of the misfortune he has suffered previously: “I was behind Tom and Lucas as Tom made a slight mistake. After that, the two battled with each other and thus gave me the chance to overtake them.”
Blomqvist was happy with his efforts, even though the fight against Auer was a bit more difficult than he thought: “Keeping Lucas at bay wasn’t easy. Coming out of the Mercedes Arena, I made a slight mistake and Lucas was right behind me. In the Motodrom, Josh then overtook both of us. After that, I tried to defend at least my third place, which wasn’t easy. But eventually, I managed to finish ahead of Lucas.”
So with the third race to hopefully bring more from the field, which is so well varied that anyone, can make their mark for their future, which can be secured with some great performances…
