Nick Cassidy finally broke through for his maiden FIA European Formula 3 Championship victory after triumphing in race two at Zandvoort on Saturday.
The New Zealander jumped into the lead at the first corner after out-dragging pole sitter Callum Ilott, and then was able to maintain a gap to the following pack to take the win.
Cassidy had taken five runners-up spots in 2016 already but the first win will take a lot of pressure off the Prema Powerteam driver’s shoulders.
With Ilott pushed wide at the first turn as he attempted to deny Cassidy the pass for the lead, the British driver lost momentum and dropped to third behind Maximilian Günther, who made it a Prema 1-2 until the chequered flag.
Ilott completed the podium for van Amersfoort Racing after shadowing the duo ahead of him throughout the race, while the Britons team-mate Anthoine Hubert drove a quiet race to fourth.
Alessio Lorandi followed up his race one podium by jumping from seventh to fifth at the start and holding that position until the chequered flag, with the Carlin driver withstanding the close attention of both Ralf Aron of Prema Powerteam and David Beckmann of Mücke Motorsport throughout before pulling away from the duo in the closing laps.
Ben Barnicoat made a good start to move into the top ten and finished eighth, just ahead of Hitech GP team-mate George Russell, while the team’s third driver Nikita Mazepin finished on the road in tenth, although the Russian incurred a five-second time penalty for being out of position on the grid, meaning he dropped to fifteenth in the final results, with Joel Eriksson securing the final point instead of Motopark.
Race one winner Lance Stroll was the only retirement of race two, with the Canadian pulling into the pits with damage to a wheel rim. The Prema driver had started at the back of the field after having his qualifying times deleted following a suspension infraction, but had only progressed to eighteenth when he retired.
Zandvoort Race 2 Result
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