Turbulent Formula 3 races in Nuremberg

The FIA Formula 3 European Championship started into its second season half at the 2.3 kilometres long Norisring. Raffaele Marciello (Prema Powerteam), Alex Lynn (Prema Powerteam) and Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) shared the race wins between them, but the way to that goal was a turbulent one.

After 18 season rounds, Marciello remains in the lead of the drivers’ standings from Rosenqvist, but in the sunshine of the Norisring, his margin melted away. With twelve races remaining, the Italian is only 24.5 points clear of the Swede.

The Norisring is the only street circuit on the FIA Formula 3 European Championship calendar and thus is a guarantee for thrilling racing action. Felix Rosenqvist was in the limelight during the race weekend, having been disqualified after qualifying as the fuel from his car was found to be not in line with the regulations.

Only on Sunday morning, the penalty was rescinded after further analyses and Rosenqvist’s pair of second places was confirmed. His victory in the third race was the icing on the cake. “I have never liked the Norisring and therefore, I am all the more happy that I have won here,” Rosenqvist said.

However, Rosenqvist wasn’t the only driver who caught attention. No less than twelve drivers were penalised for being too fast under yellow flags. As the race was already in an advanced stage when the penalties were given, the initial drive-through penalties were converted into 20 seconds’ time penalties.

Race winner Raffaele Marciello was among the drivers who were affected. Thus, Tom Blomqvist (Eurointernational), who had crossed the finish line in eighth place, was declared the winner. Second place went to Harry Tincknell (Carlin), who initially was eleventh. At that time, young German André Rudersdorf (ma-con), who was 14th on the road, was promoted to third.

The trio wasn’t able to celebrate their trophy wins for long, though: a few hours later, seven penalties were rescinded after video footage had proven that the yellow flags hadn’t been waved all the time. Thus, the ’old’ winner Raffaele Marciello became the new winner. “That was the shortest win of my career,” said Tom Blomqvist, who in Nuremberg had a team-mate for the first time with Nick Cassidy (Eurointernational).

18-year-old Cassidy, who grew up in New Zealand together with the Brit, put in a good performance at Norisring straight away. Before that, he had only had one day of testing with a Formula 3 car. The driver from New Zealand showed a competitive spirit in all three races and already came close to scoring points with a pair of eleventh places in his first outing.

Upon his comeback in Formula 3, Alexander Sims (ThreeBond with T-Sport), who raced in the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2009 and 2010, secured 14th, fourth and fifth place for his team and showed in an impressive way that the British team, the only outfit to use a ThreeBond Nissan engine, has the potential to battle with the front runners.

Sims was even in contention for a podium finish which he only just missed out on. Sims will again race for ThreeBond with T-Sport at the Nürburgring in five weeks’ time (16-18 August 2013) and is hoping for podium finishes in the Eifel.

FIA Formula 3 European