Raffaele Marciello claimed the FIA F3 European Championship title at Hockenheim on Saturday after claiming second, fourth and first in the three races of the weekend.
Not even needing the third race to complete his charge, the Prema Powerteam driver bagged the win in race two even with nearest title rival Felix Rosenqvist taking the race win.
The Ferrari Academy driver did start on pole for race two, but after being jumped by Rosenqvist, Alex Lynn and Lucas Auer, fourth place was the highest the Italian could manage.
Incidentally, the second place finish for Marciello’s team mate Alex Lynn was enough for him to finish third in the F3 driver’s championship.
“It is unbelievable, I am the European champion. I really don’t know what to say. In the race, I was very cautious, because I didn’t want to risk a penalty. But I didn’t have to either, because fourth place was enough for me to seal the title. Admittedly, I didn’t win this race, but I still won the title, and that surely isn’t bad either.” Commented Marciello.
That said Kfzteile 24 Mucke Motorsport driver Rosenqvist was gracious in defeat and looked forward to next season: “It was a strange race, because I actually made a lot of mistakes, but I was still able to maintain the lead. Winning the race was all I could do. From that point of view, the weekend has been perfect so far, but still, I am not happy, because I wanted to keep the battle for the title open until race three. But now, I congratulate Raffaele for winning the title, his season was better than mine. I will learn from it and come back stronger next year, wherever I will be racing then.”
Where both drivers will be next season is a mystery at the moment but one thing is certain, after the performances both men put up this season drives in 2014 should not be hard to find.