Photo: Audi

FIA F3 European Championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi will make his debut in the DTM at Moscow Raceway this weekend for Audi.

The Italian steps in for double DTM champion Timo Scheider, who was this week banned from the event for his part in the ‘push him out’ controversy at the previous round at Spielberg.

Prior to that decision, it was reported at the start of this month that Giovinazzi would be Audi’s reserve driver in Moscow.

He took part in the marque’s young driver evaluation test at the end of last season, and in an official test earlier this year.

The F3 series has not made the trip to Moscow this weekend after the teams got it replaced by a round at Portimao next week.

21-year-old Italian Giovinazzi has a lead of 20.5 points in the standings with three events to go.

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Photo: Fotospeedy

The FIA F3 European Championship has made a change to its calendar for this season, with the trip to Moscow dropped in favour of a round at Portimao.

The series said teams had requested that an alternative be found for the Russian event, “due to the huge logistical efforts and the accordingly high travel expenses.”

The championship supported the DTM at the Moscow Raceway last year, but several teams chose to skip the meeting.

The Portimao race weekend will be shared with the Blancpain Sprint Series on 4-6 September, a week after the planned Moscow visit.

The official mid-season test has been scheduled for the Algarve venue on 1-2 September, the Tuesday and Wednesday before the race weekend.

The post Algarve replaces Moscow on 2015 European F3 schedule appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jean Michel Le Meur/DPPI

A fifth win of the year was enough for Carlos Sainz to extend his lead in the Formula Renault 3.5 standings despite a first corner crash in race two. The Spaniard snatched Saturday’s pole from the grasp of his Fortec rivals and led the race from start to finish. He was second off the line in race two but?contact was made at turn one with Oliver Rowland on his inside, forcing both into retirement. Rowland had chased Sainz in race one but lost second when his car became stuck in fourth gear with a lap to go, dropping him to fourth place.

Roberto Merhi was the star of the weekend. Fresh from his maiden win in Moscow a fortnight earlier, Merhi inherited second in race one when Rowland slowed, and then led race two from pole position, leaving the chaos behind him. His form has lifted him to second in the standings, 39 points behind Sainz.

His cause was helped by a poor weekend for Pierre Gasly, who started 17th for race one and finished 20th after contact necessitated a front wing change. His Sunday qualifying was even worse – 21st of the 22 drivers – but he steered his way through the chaotic first few corners to take eighth and salvage four points from the weekend.

Sergey Sirotkin has put his run of non-finishes firmly behind him now, following his Moscow win with a third and a fourth in Germany to move up to fifth, within 14 points of third-placed Gasly. Matthieu Vaxiviere had an impressive return from the back injury that kept him out of Spa and Moscow, finishing a close second to Merhi in race two, with Lotus team-mate Marlon Stockinger in third.

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0: De Vries and Olsen move clear with wins

Photo: Jean Michel Le Meur/DPPI

Nyck de Vries extended his points lead in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with his second win of the season in race one at the Nurburgring. He then finished fourth in race two – third of those eligible for points – to end the weekend with a 30-point lead.

His nearest rival is now Dennis Olsen, who also grabbed his second win of the season in race two after a fourth in race one. Prema team-mate Bruno Bonifacio had his second straight non-scoring weekend but is still third in the standings, 28 points behind Olsen.

Alex Albon started race one from pole position but had to settle for second after being beaten off the line by his old karting rival de Vries. Jack Aitken finally got off the mark with a fine drive to third in wet conditions in race one before adding sixth in race two.

Charles Leclerc followed up his two Alps series wins at Monza with a fine wildcard appearance, finishing fifth and second in the two races. de Vries’ Koiranen team-mates had strong weekends, with Ignazio D’Agosto sixth and third and Nick Cassidy eighth and fifth – although the Kiwi failed to make the most of qualifying third and second.

Formula Renault 1.6 NEC: De Pasquale with another double

Photo: FR1.6 NEC

Anton De Pasquale reclaimed the initiative in the Formula Renault 1.6 NEC with two wins at the Nurburgring to extend his points lead.

He and rival Janneau Esmeijer had each claimed a double win at Zandvoort and Spa respectively, and it was Esmeijer who led the opening race at first before being penalised for a jump start.

He was able to recover to fourth, before finishing second to the Australian in race two, dropping to 30 points behind the championship leader. Larry ten Voorde finished second and third in the two races, with Max Defourny third and fourth.

FIA F3 European Championship: Ocon halts Verstappen with a treble of his own

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Esteban Ocon ended Max Verstappen‘s run of six wins from six races with his first weekend lockout in Moscow. The Frenchman claimed his sixth, seventh and eighth wins of the season – all from pole position – to extend his championship lead to over 100 points.

Verstappen was third in race one and second in race three, but retired from race two with an alternator problem. Jordan King scored his third consecutive podium in race one to claim second, but after a fifth in race two, his weekend ended with a clash with Lucas Auer (fifth and fourth in the earlier two races).

Antonio Fuoco enjoyed his best weekend since his debut at Silverstone, with sixth in race one followed by second and then third. Tom Blomqvist took a fourth, a third and a seventh.

Italian F4: Maisano and Stroll dominate for Prema

Photo: ACI Sport

Prema Powerteam dominated the third round of the new Italian F4 series at Mugello, with Brandon Maisano claiming two wins and Lance Stroll extending his championship lead. Former Ferrari junior Maisano scored his first win in the series from pole position in race one, was third in race two and then won the final race despite starting from the back after triggering an aborted start.

Karting graduate Stroll was second to Maisano in race one before winning race two from tenth on the reverse grid. Maisano’s problems saw Stroll lead race three, but he was penalised for forcing Andrea Russo off track and ended up sixth. With Maisano not eligible to fight Stroll in the main championship, the Canadian leads by 61 points over Russo.

Russo took maximum points for second behind Maisano in race three, after finishing sixth and second in the earlier two races. Leonardo Pulcini took third in race one and repeated that in race two, only to be penalised for a technical irregularity on his car, before finishing back in 14th in race three. Alain Valente scored his first podium behind Maisano and Russo in race three.

Formula Renault 1.6 Nordic: Two wins for Sundahl, one for Fredricsson

Lukas Sundahl and Pontus Fredricsson heaped the pressure on Formula Renault 1.6 Nordic leader Joonas Lappalainen by sharing the wins at round three at Falkenberg. Sundahl won the opening two races from pole before finishing sixth in a safety-car dominated race three.

Fredricsson claimed victory in torrential rain conditions in race three (the weather led to the cancellation of race four), after a fifth and a second in Saturday’s races. Lappalainen failed to finish race one after a first-lap off, before fighting his way up to sixth from the back of the grid in race two and finishing second in race three.

Kevin Aabol finished second and third in the opening two races before retiring from race three. Robert Svensson and Paul Blomqvist were also podium finishers, coming third in races one and three respectively.

Japanese F3: Takaboshi and Matsushita claim Fuji wins

Photo: Japanese Formula 3 Association

Kenta Yamashita did enough to keep the lead of the Japanese F3 title race despite his two nearest rivals Mitsunori Takaboshi and Nobuharu Matsushita winning at Fuji.

Nissan-backed Takaboshi began race one from pole, and although he lost the lead at the start to Tom’s driver Takamoto Katsuta, he regained the place on lap three and went on to record his second win of the season. Takaboshi would finish fourth in race two, reversing the weekend results of Honda man Matsushita, who led race two from start to finish.

18-year-old Yamashita finished second in both races, keeping him one point ahead of Matsushita in the standings, and ten ahead of Takaboshi. Katsuta ended up sixth and fifth in the two races, leaving last year’s runner-up 26 points off the lead but four ahead of?Daiki Sasaki, who finished both races in third.

Star Driver: Roberto Merhi

The former Euro F3 champion has now firmly put his DTM struggles behind him and reminded the world of what he can do in a single-seater. What’s particularly impressive is the way he’s pushed the Zeta Corse team forward from last year when they didn’t look as strong as this despite having Sainz on board.

Photo: Francois Flamand/DPPI

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Photo: Jean Michel Le Meur/DPPI

Sergey Sirotkin and Roberto Merhi scored their maiden Formula Renault 3.5 victories in Moscow on a difficult weekend for the leading title contenders. Their wins were far from flukes though, both having qualified on pole position. Local ace Sirotkin’s victory put an end to a run of four straight non-finishes. He ended a strong weekend in race two with a fourth – the same result that Merhi had managed in race one as both drivers made up ground in the championship.

The start of race one saw bizarre circumstances as the top three in the standings – Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly and Oliver Rowland – were all left on the grid at the start, triggering a second formation lap. None scored points, with Sainz and Rowland clashing on track and Gasly joining the race a lap down. Gasly would salvage second place in race two, with Rowland fifth and Sainz recovering to sixth after struggling for pace all weekend. The Spaniard still has a 33-point advantage over Gasly in the standings.

The problems for the usual frontrunners allowed three drivers to score their first podiums. Zoel Amberg delivered on his upturn in form this year by following Sirotkin home in race one, with Pietro Fantin in third. Richie Stanaway took third in race two, which was the fourth and last of his planned stand-in appearances with Lotus.

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0: Maiden victories for Panis and Jorg

Photo: Florent Gooden/DPPI

Just as in the senior series, the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 saw two first-time winners in Moscow. Aurelien Panis claimed the honours in race one from pole position, leading fellow Frenchman Andrea Pizzitola. In race two it was Kevin Jorg who won, the Swiss driver beating pole-sitter Nyck de Vries off the line.

De Vries came into the weekend tied on points for the championship lead, so retiring from race one due to a first-lap puncture was far from ideal. However, his second place in race two combined with no points at all for nearest rival Bruno Bonifacio means an 18-point lead for the Dutch driver. It also meant he outscored third-placed Dennis Olsen, who took a ninth and fifth from the weekend.

Matt Parry was one of the weekend’s top scorers – the NEC champion putting his poor start to the season behind him to claim third in race one and fourth in race two.

FIA F3 European Championship: Stunning Verstappen claims another treble

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

One week on from dominating at Spa-Francorchamps, the incredible Max Verstappen took his second consecutive hat-trick of wins at the FIA F3 European Championship’s visit to the Norisring. The 16-year-old single-seater newcomer passed Felix Rosenqvist and Esteban Ocon to win race one before securing pole for Sunday’s two races, claiming comfortable wins in both.

Verstappen’s rich vein of form has moved him up into second in the championship standings, 74 points behind Ocon. The Frenchman was second to his fellow rookie in the first and third races of the weekend, but failed to score in race two after a move for second on Tom Blomqvist led to race-ending contact for the Briton and a drive-through penalty for Ocon.

Blomqvist had a torrid weekend – a pit stop for a broken front wing restricting him to tenth in race one before two retirements – the second after team-mate Jake Dennis harpooned him out of second at the start. That incident also caught up Mucke drivers Lucas Auer and Rosenqvist. Auer had earlier taken two thirds, and recovered from 18th to eighth in the final race. Rosenqvist had claimed his first pole of the season for race one, but a lack of speed and some incidents restricted him to two sixths and and 11th.

Jordan King recovered from a miserable run of form with second in race two and third in race three, while Santino Ferrucci was one of the stars of the weekend – the American claiming a fifth and a fourth in just his second weekend in the series.

Auto GP: Sato returns for fourth win, Cerruti gets her first

Photo: Auto GP

Kimiya Sato returned to Auto GP action at Imola with his points lead still intact after missing the previous round at Monza, and a win in the first race helped the Japanese driver to end the weekend with a significant margin once again. For the first time this season, he would be kept off the podium and made to settle for fourth in race two.

For the third consecutive weekend, Markus Pommer claimed pole position, but the hard work came undone when his car stopped on the first lap. He came back to fifth in race two, but has gone from nine to 36 points in arrears of Sato. Tied with the German now is Kevin Giovesi, who was second to Sato in race one and came through to finish in the same place in race two.

He was unable though to find a way past Michela Cerruti, who claimed her first single-seater win after a fifth in race one. In race one, it was Andrea Roda who completed the podium with his third rostrum from as many weekends, while his new Virtuosi team-mate and outfit returnee Pal Varhaug was third in race two after a fourth in race one.

Italian F4: Stroll takes charge with two Imola wins

Photo: ACI Sport

Lance Stroll enjoyed a near-perfect weekend in the second round of the new Italian F4 season to move into a comfortable championship lead. The Ferrari protege led his vastly more experienced Prema team-mate Brandon Maisano home to victory in races one and three.

Andrea Russo had led the way after the opening round at Adria, but he had a tough time at Imola. He was third on the road in race one behind the Prema pair, but was dropped to fourth for not respecting yellow flags. He then held second in race two until a last lap clash with Maisano dropped him to tenth.The incident promoted Stroll to second, the Canadian having worked his way up from tenth on the reverse grid. Maisano, whose age makes him ineligible for the main championship, got to keep third and was instead handed a grid penalty for race three. A retirement in race three leaves Russo 51 points adrift of Stroll, albeit still second in the ranking.

Leonardo Pulcini had a solid weekend with a third and two fifths, while Mattia Drudi took victory in race two after an eighth in race one. A stall put him a lap down in race three.

Formula Ford GB: Scott moves ahead in title fight as Sutton shines

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

A win and two other podiums at Croft were enough for Harrison Scott to turn a nine-point deficit in the Formula Ford GB standings into a nine-point lead. Scott won the first encounter from pole position, and followed that up with a third place in each of the remaining races.

His cause was aided by a difficult weekend for erstwhile leader Jayde Kruger, whose struggles in the damp qualifying set the tone for his races, with the experienced South African racer only managing a sixth and two fifths.

Ashley Sutton was perhaps the star of the weekend. He had set the pace in Friday testing, but only qualified sixth. Nonetheless, he was able to use his pace to power to the front in each race. He got up to second in race one before a late safety car denied him the chance to attack Scott. He claimed his maiden win in race two from third on the grid, and in race three he again went from sixth to second, finishing right on the tail of winner James Abbott.

F3 Cup: Sowery sees off extra competition at Spa

Toby Sowery extended his lead in the F3 Cup standings with two wins at Spa, despite added competition for the championship’s trip to Belgium. British F3 regular Peter Li made use of his newer Carlin-run machinery to pip Sowery to pole, but the Lanan Racing ace (who turned 18 on Monday) got past the Chinese driver on the last lap of a soaking wet first race. He once again out-raced Li in a damp race two.

Sowery was joined for the weekend by Struan Moore, who usually drives for Lanan’s BRDC F4 squad. Making his F3 debut, the Jersey racer was a distant third in the first encounter and failed to finish race two.

Star Driver: Lance Stroll

To avoid picking Verstappen for the second week in a row, we’ll give this honour to his fellow former karting ace Stroll, who had a near-perfect weekend of his own in Italian F4, leading the two feature races from pole position and making superb progress in the reverse grid race. It has moved him into a rather sizeable lead after just two rounds.

Photo: ACI Sport

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Photo: Jean Michel Le Meur / DPPI / Renault Sport Media

Josef Kaufmann Racing’s Kevin Jorg became the sixth different race-winner in just as many races of the 2014 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 campaign.

Jorg made a better start than polesitter Nyck de Vries and managed to take the inside line into turn one despite the Dutchman’s attempts to block him.

The Dutchman ended up forced wide with Alex Albon into turn one and the two rejoined the track in second and third, with Jorg assuming the lead ahead.

Jorg and de Vries then managed to pull away from Albon during the opening laps as the Thai racer came under pressure from Fortec’s Matt Parry.

Out front, Jorg led de Vries by a second and a half at the race’s halfway point, yet the Dutchman managed to significantly close the gap over the subsequent laps. Having gotten as close as 0.6s, de Vries did not find an opportunity to get by and eventually had to settle for second place.

After 18 laps, Jorg took the checkered flag, celebrating his first win in the series. De Vries finished second, while Albon successfully managed to hold on to third.

Parry settled for fourth, ahead of Dennis Olsen and Andrea Pizzitola. Local guest driver Matevos Isaakyan led yesterday’s winner Aurelien Panis in seventh, while Egor Orudzhev and Callan O’Keeffe completed the top ten.

Due to Isaakyan’s status as a guest racer, Ryan Tveter managed to secure his first points finish in the series with 11th place.

Race results

The post Kevin Jorg triumphs in second Eurocup race at Moscow Raceway appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Florent Gooden / DPPI / Renault Sport Media

Spanish racer Roberto Merhi secured his and his team’s first pole position in Formula Renault 3.5 in Sunday qualifying at Moscow Raceway.

Merhi led the field during the usual halfway point break and then managed a spectacular lap on new tyres in the final five minutes to secure first on the grid.

The Spaniard’s maiden pole was under real threat from fellow single-seater returnee Richie Stanaway, but the Kiwi ended up just 0.015s off on his quickest lap.

Red Bull junior Pierre Gasly was best of the rest half a second adrift of the leading duo. He will be joined by his former Eurocup title rival Oliver Rowland on row two, with the Brit posting a last-second lap under the checkered flag.

Yesterday’s race winner Sergey Sirotkin was just 0.001s down in fifth and will start ahead of Marlon Stockinger, Zoel Amberg and Matias Laine.

Championship leader Carlos Sainz had a slightly better qualifying than yesterday’s disastrous session, posting the ninth quickest lap time. The Spaniard will start the race from 11th, having incurred a two-place grid penalty for his race one collision with Rowland.

As such, AVF’s Beitske Visser is promoted to ninth, with Will Stevens joining her on the fifth row.

The session’s only major incident occurred early on when Draco’s Pietro Fantin went off in the gravel at turn 11.

Session results

* – two-place grid penalty

The post Roberto Merhi secures maiden pole in Formula Renault 3.5 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Ferran Mallol / ASM / Renault Sport Media

Koiranen’s Nyck de Vries took pole position for the second race of the third round of the Eurocup Formula Renault season at Moscow Raceway.

De Vries improved on the benchmark set by Kevin Jorg to take his fourth pole of this season.

The drivers from Group B were out first this time around and their 15-minute session proved even more hectic than usual.

With most drivers on their warm-up laps at the halfway point of the session, the red flag was suddenly brought out for the stopped car of Prema racer Bruno Bonifacio.

As such, the competitors had very little time to get a good lap in and the spectators were treated to non-stop changes at the top of the timesheets.

Andrea Pizzitola led the group heading into the final three minutes, but it was Josef Kaufmann Racing’s Jorg who stunned the field with a rapid lap seconds before the checkered flag.

Fortec’s Matt Parry got close to Jorg’s benchmark in the final seconds of the session, but the Swiss driver remained at the top of the group.

Pizzitola took third in the session, leading yesterday’s race winner Aurelien Panis and local favorite Egor Orudzhev.

The fight in Group A was not quite as close with de Vries taking over in first with four minutes to go and remaining as the session leader.

Alex Albon will start third, finishing three tenths down on the Dutchman. Dennis Olsen, local guest driver Matevos Isaakyan and Lotus junior Callan O’Keeffe rounded out the top five in the group.

Qualifying results

?

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Photo: Jean Michel Le Meur / DPPI / Renault Sport Media

Fortec driver Sergey Sirotkin took his first victory in Formula Renault 3.5 in the Saturday race at Moscow Raceway.

Sirotkin withstood race-long pressure from his closest rival – AVF’s Zoel Amberg – and managed to lead the race lights-to-flag to the delight of local fans.

There was drama prior to the beginning of the race as, following the formation lap, the start was aborted due to three drivers indicating issues on the grid.

The three cars, none of which got going for the extra green flag lap, belonged to the three drivers who topped the standings coming into the race – Red Bull juniors Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz and RSF-backed racer Oliver Rowland.

Sainz and Rowland did manage to start from the pitlane without going a lap down and went on to collide seven laps into the race in the final corner while fighting for P17.

With Gasly’s front row spot left vacant for the start, Sirotkin easily led the field into turn one, while Amberg assumed second place.

The Swiss driver was a second and a half off the race lead early on, but managed to take the gap down to a second in no time and remained a constant threat to Sirotkin for the majority of the race.

At some point near the halfway of the allotted time it appeared that Amberg had settled for second place, but a slow lap from the race leader allowed him to drastically close the gap down.

Amberg continued to loom over Sirotkin during the final minutes, but could do nothing to prevent the Russian’s first win in the series.

Pietro Fantin finished a lonely race in third, picking up his first podium in the category. Meanwhile, Roberto Merhi fended off Jazeman Jaafar to secure fourth.

Will Stevens brought some points home in sixth, while Stockinger held on to seventh, leading Matias Laine and teammate Richie Stanaway.

In tenth, Oscar Tunjo secured his first points in the series.

Race results

The post Sirotkin fends off Amberg to take maiden win on home soil appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Florent Gooden / DPPI / Renault Sport Media

ART Junior Team’s Aurelien Panis picked up his first victory in Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, having led the entirety of race one at Moscow Raceway from pole position.

The Frenchman, who had recorded his first win in FR2.0 in the NEC championship’s most recent round at Hockenheim, made a smooth getaway from the grid and enjoyed a calm, dominant race to the flag.

Compatriot Andrea Pizzitola managed to slot into second into turn one and troubled Panis early on, but settled for second after a few laps.

Front row starter Anthoine Hubert finished third on the road, running close behind Pizzitola the whole race, but was handed a ten second post-race penalty for jumping the start. Caterham junior Matt Parry was the main beneficiary – the Welsh star had used Egor Orudzhev‘s move on Levin Amweg to get alongside the two coming out of the final turn and take fourth place, which would then translate into a maiden podium.

Amweg kept fourth, finishing ahead of ART Junior Team squadmate Callan O’Keeffe, who managed to get past Orudzhev in the closing minutes.

Kevin Jorg was the top Josef Kaufmann Racing driver in seventh, ahead of local guest driver Matevos Isaakyan and Prema’s Dennis Olsen. Hubert’s ten-second penalty meant that he was classified in 10th place.

The race saw two retirements – championship leader Nyck de Vries picked up a puncture on the opening lap and ended his race in the pits, while Jack Aitken‘s car came to a halt on-track on lap five.

Race results

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Photo: Jean Michel Le Meur / DPPI / Renault Sport Media

Fortec’s Sergey Sirotkin impressed the home crowds at Moscow Raceway by taking his first pole position in the Formula Renault 3.5 series.

Sirotkin, who currently sits 12th in the standings after a rough start to the season, was two tenths clear of his rivals.

AVF’s Zoel Amberg led the field at the 30-minute session’s halfway point, but was dethroned by Sirotkin in the final six minutes. The Russian set a sub 1:21 lap with his first attempt on new tyres, which proved good enough for pole as the allotted time expired.

Red Bull junior Pierre Gasly will join Sirotkin on the front row, having managed to vault himself into second under the checkered flag.

Roberto Merhi qualified third, but will start seventh due to a four-place grid penalty. As such, Amberg inherited third place, while Draco’s Pietro Fantin is set to be promoted to the second row alongside him.

Oliver Rowland will start fifth, leading Jazeman Jaafar. Behind Merhi, Oscar Tunjo broke into the top ten in his third qualifying, while Will Stevens and Richie Stanaway made up the fifth row.

Teams’ championship leaders DAMS had a dreadful session, with points leader Carlos Sainz qualifying in 16th and his teammate Norman Nato – in 19th.

Session results

* – grid drop of four places

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