Antonio Giovinazzi was delighted to take victory in race one of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship round at Hockenheim in a race run wet conditions and interrupted by the safety car on no fewer than three times.
The Italian Jagonya Ayam with Carlin driver consolidated his early championship lead by passing pole sitter Felix Rosenqvist on the opening lap, and then withstood race long pressure from the Prema Powerteam driver to take his first victory of the season.
“I had a really good race,” insisted Giovinazzi. “We saw this morning in qualifying that we had good pace so I wanted to get past Felix quickly at the start.
“I found good grip at the hairpin and then managed to keep him behind me although it wasn’t easy with the safety cars. I want to thank everyone at Jagonya Ayam with Carlin for a good car today we can do the same later in the weekend too.”
Jagonya Ayam with Carlin team-mate Gustavo Menezes claimed the final point on offer in tenth, but felt he had the pace to finish higher had it not been for a few close calls with other drivers and the safety car interventions.
“We had a difficult build-up to the start of the weekend,” started Menezes, “but I had a great start to the race but then unfortunately I got caught up in between a bit of a mess which lost me a couple of positions.
“I managed to recover into the points, and I suppose that’s as much as you can ask for in a race with two or three safety cars.
“We had the pace to go a bit further so it’s a bit of a shame but we will put that to good use tomorrow.”
The third Jagonya Ayam with Carlin driver Ryan Tveter was unfortunately forced to retire after clashing with a rival and breaking his right front suspension at turn two.
