Antonio Giovinazzi led from start to finish in race one at Zandvoort to take his fourth FIA European Formula 3 Championship victory of the season on Saturday.
The Italian driver was forced to withstand the race long attention from Felix Rosenqvist at the Dutch circuit, with Giovinazzi eventually prevailing by just 1.127s as the Swede settled for second late in the day.
The gap had been below 0.4 seconds with just a handful of laps remaining, but with two more races to come this weekend, Prema Powerteam driver Rosenqvist thought better of making a rash move on the Jagonya Ayam with Carlin driver, and took another podium finish this season.
A driver making his first visit to the podium this season was 2014 German Formula 3 Champion Markus Pommer, who finished a distant third for Motopark.
Pommer finished just ahead of Lance Stroll, who made a good start to jump into fourth for Prema Powerteam, while Championship leader Charles Leclerc secured more good points by finishing fifth for Van Amersfoort Racing on the team’s home circuit.
George Russell took sixth for Carlin, holding off the challenge of Alexander Albon of the Signature team, while Mikkel Jensen of Mücke Motorsport took eighth.
Nabil Jeffri secured his first points of the season with a strong drive to ninth for Motopark, while Brandon Maisano secured the final point of the race in tenth for Prema Powerteam.
Championship contender Jake Dennis’ mid-season lull continued when he was forced to take a drive-through penalty for jumping the start, before retiring a few laps from the end while well outside the points.
Two Mücke Motorsport drivers, Santino Ferrucci and Maximilian Günther, were both forced to pit for repairs, with the American running through the gravel trap before pitting, while the German was forced to pit after receiving the black-and-orange flag for a broken front nose while running inside the top ten.
Zandvoort Race 1 Result
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