Photo: ATS F3 Cup

Malaysian driver Weiron Tan took his first German F3 wins at the final round of the campaign at Hockenheim. He had only qualified down in fifth for both races, but was into the lead on lap one of the first race. Champion Markus Pommer would go on to pass him but be penalised for exceeding track limits, allowing Tan to win. An early retirement in race two, Tan would again pick up victory in race three when compatriot Nabil Jeffri retired with mechanical issues.

Indy Dontje secured double pole for the two main races and would finish up with a second place finish in all three races – enough to take third place in the standings away from Sam MacLeod, who was taken out on the first lap of race one and was then seventh and third in the other two.

Pommer’s penalty left him back in fourth in race one, but he claimed his 14th and final win of the year in race two before mechanical issues forced him out in race three. Championship runner-up Jeffri took third place in the first two races before his enforced retirement in race three.

ADAC Formel Masters: Marschall ends campaign with double win

Photo: ADAC

Dennis Marschall ended his rookie single-seater season with a bang as he took two wins from the last ever ADAC Formel Masters round at Hockenheim. In race one he stole the win away from Maximilian Gunther with a last lap pass, but suffered the opposite fortune in race two when champion Mikkel Jensen overtook him on the final tour. Marschall would return to the top step in race three from seventh on the grid.

In addition to his tenth win of the year, Jensen was third in races one and three. Double pole-sitter Gunther had to make do with second, fourth and then ninth, but did secure the championship runner-up position for the second year in a row with Tim Zimmerman third after two fifths and a second place from the final weekend.

Marvin Dienst finished fourth in the standings having not finished higher than sixth all weekend, while Joel Eriksson took fifth thanks to his sixth podium finish of the year in race two. Marschall’s strong weekend was enough to take sixth, four points ahead of Ralph Boschung, who had struggled with straight-line performance over the second half of the season and fallen from a high point of P3.

Formula Renault 2.0 Alps: Bonifacio and de Vries take Jerez victories

Photo: Fast Lane Promotion

Nyck de Vries completed his dominant Formula Renault 2.0 Alps campaign with a ninth win in the series finale at Jerez. The Dutch driver was beaten to victory for just the fifth time in race one, but won race two from pole position and set the fastest lap as he ended the year with exactly 300 points, and claiming the maximum score for the fifth time from seven rounds.

Bruno Bonifacio put his recent run of poor form behind him in race one to score his first victory since the Eurocup round at Spa at the very start of June. The Brazilian was one of numerous first-lap casualties in race two.

With the field bolstered by Eurocup regulars preparing for their trip to the same circuit in a fortnight, Egor Orudzhev took a third and a second, Matt Parry a fourth and a third and Dennis Olsen a fifth and a fourth. Jake Hughes scored a fifth place for the new Strakka entry in race two.

The battle for P2 in the championship was relegated down towards the bottom of the top ten, but saw Charles Leclerc do enough to secure the place with a sixth and seventh overall (second and third among the Alps scorers) with rival Matevos Isaakyan getting an eighth and a sixth (third and second in Alps).

Formula Renault 1.6 NEC: De Pasquale and Aron win at Spa

Photo: Dirk Bogaerts

Anton De Pasquale is a step closer to taking the Formula Renault 1.6 NEC title after victory in race one on the category’s second trip to Spa this year. Sixth in a wet race two was the first time he has failed to finish inside the top four this year, but was still enough to extend his championship lead to 79 points. That hasn’t been enough to guarantee him the title though, because a third race has been added to the Zandvoort finale.

Ralf Aron has become the Australian’s nearest rival thanks to a continuation of his strong FR1.6 form, finishing second in race one and then winning race two. De Pasquale’s season-long competitor Janneau Esmeijer had a poor weekend, coming fifth in race one and then failing to finish race two after contact with Aron.

Florian Janits scored third in race one and second in race three, while Max Defourny capitalised on De Pasquale’s podium absence to take third in race two.

Formula Renault Argentina: Lima and Rey win at San Juan

Agustin Lima took his first Formula Renault Argentina win in race one at San Juan from sixth on the grid, with Kevin Toledo and Nicolas Cazal joining him on the podium from tenth and eighth respectively.

Race two followed a less surprising pattern, with Guillermo Rey taking his third win of the season ahead of race one retirements Felipe Schmauck and Martin Moggia.

Rey (fifth in race one) has closed to within four points of leader Federico Cavagnero, who was seventh and fourth in the two races.

Star Driver: Dennis Marschall

A major step forward from the German to enjoy by far his best weekend of the year at the final round – quite a common phenomenon for a rookie. He won two races, including one from ninth on the grid – and was less than a lap away from winning a third. Unfortunately for him, the move to ADAC F4 will mean his momentum won’t be as helpful as usual over the winter, but he has certainly marked himself out as one to watch assuming he continues in F4 next year.

Photo: ADAC

The post PaddockScout Roundup: German F3 Hockenheim, FR2.0 Alps Jerez appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Max Verstappen enjoyed an impressive first weekend as a Red Bull Junior in the FIA F3 European Championship at the Nurbrgring. After outclassing the field in a wet qualifying session, he claimed his eighth win of the campaign in race one despite twice losing the lead on a drying track. In race two he took the lead off the start and soaked up the pressure of having four drivers behind him, until he suffered an engine failure just laps from the end. Faced with the first of three grid ten-place grid penalties in race three, he dodged first corner carnage on his way from 12th to third.

Antonio Giovinazzi showed his Spielberg form was no fluke, inheriting his second victory in the space of three races in race two of the weekend, after coming third in the first race. His race three ended in turn one contact with Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman improved on his failure to score in Spielberg, but was only sixth in race one and needed Verstappen’s misfortune to make the podium in race two. His championship lead has been cut to 77 points, but he will wrap up the title next time out in Imola if he maintains a lead of over 75.

Lucas Auer scored his first win for 23 races in the final encounter, and after a seventh and a fifth in the earlier races, is still in mathematical title contention. Closer than him is Tom Blomqvist, who after a fifth in race one, started both of Sunday’s races from pole. A poor start left him second to team-mate Giovinazzi in race two, while he was passed at a restart by Auer in race three. Though his haul could have been larger, he has closed to within 87 points of Ocon.

Antonio Fuoco stole the lead from Verstappen at the start of race one despite starting fifth, but a mistake cost him the lead and forced the Ferrari driver to settle for second. He added two fourth places in Sunday’s races. Spike Goddard also led that first race after starting on wets, but he dropped back again once the track had dried out.

Auto GP: Kiss can’t stop Sato sealing title

Photo: Auto GP

Tamas Pal Kiss twice took the chequered flag first in the penultimate round of the Auto GP season at the Nurburgring, but his efforts would not be enough to prevent Kimiya Sato from wrapping up the series title. Kiss initially appeared to have taken victory in race one after the other top drivers had all been handed drive-through penalties for setting personal best sectors under a yellow flag on lap two.

However, the Hungarian was given a similar sanction post-race, dropping him to fourth and handing the win to Sato, who had come from the back of the grid after crashing in qualifying, despite being one of those to be penalised. Kiss did manage to seal a victory for good in race two, but third for Sato and the fastest lap was enough to give the Japanese driver a 51-point lead, therefore putting him out of reach with one weekend remaining and only 49 points available. Sato has only contested six of the seven rounds so far this campaign.

Markus Pommer scored his fourth pole of the season on home soil, but would have to make do with third and second in the two races. Kevin Giovesi was second in race one and sixth in race two.

British F3: Two for Cao, one for Rao

Photo: Sarah Warwick

Martin Cao and Matt Rao continued their scrap for the British F3 title at Thruxton amidst a new-low grid of just five cars, with the Fortec duo locking out the top two positions in each race. Chinese driver Cao took his first two wins in the series the opening races, with Rao settling for second.

Rao got the better of his rival in the final race of the weekend, which was enough for him to leave Thruxton with a four-point lead in the standings with two rounds remaining.

With Sam MacLeod opting to focus on an appearance in Japanese F3 next weekend and Andy Chang switching to the European championship, Peter Li completed the podium in the first two races, while Camren Kaminsky finally grabbed his first rostrum appearance in race three. Formula Ford racer Max Marshall replaced Chang alongside Kaminsky at Double R and took a trio of fourths.

BRDC F4: Fielding is first ever triple winner

Photo: BRDC F4

Sennan Fielding claimed his maiden BRDC F4 Championship win as the series returned to Silverstone for round five, and proceeded to add two more victories as he became the first driver to ever net a treble win in the category. None of his wins came easy, with the winning margin being less than half a second on each occasion as he was forced to defend a late attack from behind. While he led the first and third races from pole, the second saw him charge from eighth on the reverse grid after gambling correctly on slicks on a drying track. He’s moved up to third in the standings, just 29 points off the lead.

George Russell retained the championship lead, despite only managing a fifth and two sixths, complaining of a mysterious handling issue at a circuit where he won twice on his debut in April. In the opening two races he came out on top of battles with chief rival Raoul Hyman, but the South African finished a close second to Fielding in race three, enabling him to close to within 11 points of Russell with three rounds remaining.

Struan Moore twice joined Fielding on the podium, following him across the line for second in race one and taking third in race three. It was Brazilian rookie Gaetano Di Mauro who pushed Fielding home in race two, while Arjun Maini and Will Palmer completed the podium in races one and two respectively, the latter coming from 20th on the grid on slicks after a race one retirement. Euroformula Open star Alex Palou showed pace on his debut for usual team-mate Sean Walkinshaw’s team, claiming a fourth and a fifth from the two main races.

Formula Masters China: Solomon gets two more wins

Photo: Formula Masters China Series

Matt Solomon closed on Formula Masters China Series leader James Munro as he added his third and fourth consecutive wins at Sepang. The Hong Kong driver beat his New Zealand rival in the wet opening race and the dry second encounter. Solomon then finished second in race three, with Munro only fourth. Munro, who began the year with six straight wins, is now 14 points ahead in the standings with two rounds remaining.

Jake Parsons impressed on his debut in the series, having previously won four from four in the AsiaCup opener at the same circuit. He claimed pole for the opening race but spun off, dropping him to fourth. He took third in race two, before overhauling Solomon to win the final race.

Dan Wells completed the podium in races one and three, but was unable to start race two due to a wishbone failure. ADAC Formel Masters regular Philip Hamprecht scored a best result of fifth on his maiden appearance.

F4 Sudamericana: Ponte picks up two wins at El Pinar

Photo: F4 Sudamericana

Experienced Argentinian driver Martin Ponte turned up to F4 Sudamericana’s return to El Pinar for round three and won both races. Points leader Bruno Baptista was third in the opening race and then second in race two, increasing his lead over fellow Brazilian Felipe Ortiz, who had to make do with a fourth and a third.

Uruguayan driver Miguel Wholer finished a close second to fellow debutant Ponte in race one, but finished sixth and last in race two, a lap down after an early incident.

Formula Renault Argentina: Mallo holds off rivals for two Resistencia wins

Manuel Mallo claimed his first two wins in Formula Renault Argentina at the Resistencia round. Starting from pole, he won the first by a narrow margin from Martin Moggia, and won the second also by less than half a second, this time in front of Guillermo Rey.

Championship leader Federico Cavagnero retired from race one, but finished third in race two to give him a 13-point lead over Mallo, who is up to second with Rey a further five back in third. Miguel Calamari and Felipe Schmauk have dropped to fourth and fifth after both failing to finish race two following top five finishes in race one.

F3 Cup: Sowery forced to settle for second at Brands Hatch

F3 Cup leader Toby Sowery had to make do with two second places at Brands Hatch behind experienced campaigner Tristan Cliffe. Car racing rookie Sowery twice took the lead off the start ahead of pole-sitter Cliffe, but lacked the same pace as the 33-year-old, who took his first two wins of the season. Lanan driver Sowery still has a 51-point lead over Cliffe in the standings, with two rounds remaining.

Star Driver: Sennan Fielding

Up to now, Fielding had been a frontrunner in BRDC F4 without being able to get a win, but he finally made that breakthrough in style at Silverstone. His speed wasn’t dominant, but he had to out-race a rival in a last-lap tussle on every occasion, managing to survive under pressure. If he can keep up something close to that form and be a consistent frontrunner, he could be a real threat in the title run-in.

Photo: BRDC F4

The post PaddockScout Roundup: European F3 and Auto GP Nurburgring appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service

GP2 enjoyed thrilling 200th and 201st races in the championship’s history at the Hockenheim. Mitch Evans claimed his second straight feature race win as he charged from 15th on the grid, making the most of an unpopular option-prime tyre strategy to climb to the front of the pack and stay there. A fast start in wet conditions in the sprint race meant the Kiwi appeared to be on for a rare double when he took the lead on lap five, but he struggled after that and fell back to 11th. That meant he actually slipped from fourth to fifth in the standings over the course of the weekend.

Stoffel Vandoorne got the jump on pole-sitter Jolyon Palmer to lead much of the feature race, before rejoining from his late stop behind Evans. Second place still gave the McLaren junior his third podium from as many feature races. He led again on Sunday after taking the lead from Evans, and stayed there despite needing to pit for slicks as the track dried. He wasn’t immediately comfortable on those though, and slipped to third. The Belgian’s double podium – the first time he’s scored points in both races in GP2 – brings him back up to sixth in the standings, only 14 off third.

Palmer was third in the feature race and sixth in the sprint, but his pole position helped him to extend his points advantage from 38 to 41. Nearest rival Felipe Nasr was fifth in the feature race and then second in the sprint race, both times losing out to Stefano Coletti. After his third straight feature race fourth-place, he bettered his sprint race second places from Austria and Silverstone for a win – his first for over a year – after surviving on slicks in the early wet running. Coletti is up to fourth in the standings, just four points behind Johnny Cecotto, who was seventh in race one and then retired from the sprint after a number of moments in the wet.

Marco Sorensen shadowed Vandoorne for the entire sprint race, with fourth place being the Lotus F1 reserve’s fourth points score from as many starts in GP2. As at Silverstone, Raffaele Marciello showed impressive pace but had his weekend ruined by poor luck. After being impeded twice in qualifying, his car stalled during his feature race pit stop due to high temperatures. The same happened at exactly the same moment for Arthur Pic, who together with Marciello had been running ahead of Evans at the time on the same strategy. Marciello was third behind Vandoorne and Sorensen in the sprint when he became stuck in sixth gear.

GP3: Kirchhofer and Mardenborough get first major wins

Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP3 Series Media Service

Having won back-to-back national titles in Germany, Marvin Kirchhofer made the most of home advantage to claim his first European-level in the first GP3 race at Hockenheim, leading from pole position the chequered flag. Unfortunately, the ART man ended his weekend on a low by Emil Bernstorff in race two, putting both out of the race and picking up a five-place grid penalty for Hungary.

Also getting his first win in a major single-seater series was Jann Mardenborough. Arden continued to struggle for dry qualifying pace but Mardenborough once again made good progress in race one, going from 13th to eighth. In race two he made a great start from reverse grid pole, withstood early pressure and then pulled away.

Alex Lynn finished second to Kirchhofer in race one and then banished his Sunday morning demons to come through to third from seventh on the grid. Rival Jimmy Eriksson had initially kept the Red Bull Junior at bay to take the final podium spot but was later relegated to 15th for not slowing for yellow flags. Starting the weekend with a grid penalty carried over from Silverstone, he finished seventh in race one but couldn’t capitalise on a front row start for race two. He is now 30 points in arrears of Lynn, and only four ahead of Kirchhofer.

British drivers completed the top six behind Kirchhofer on Saturday, and filled the top five places in Sunday’s final results. Bernstorff was third in race one ahead of Nick Yelloly, Dean Stoneman?and Dino Zamparelli. The latter was second on Sunday, followed by Lynn, Stoneman and Yelloly. Richie Stanaway dropped behind Kirchhofer and Bernstorff in the title race – damage dropping him to 13th in race one before recovering to seventh in race two.

Auto GP: Sato marches on, Roda grabs first win

Photo: Auto GP

Euronova Racing’s Kimiya Sato edged closer to becoming Auto GP champion in the series sixth round taking place at Spielberg.

The Japanese driver took a comfortable pole position in qualifying and, despite losing two places at the start of race one, ended up fighting back to the lead to secure his fifth win of the season. His weekend was then somewhat sullied by a suspension failure in race two, but he continues to enjoy a healthy lead in the standings.

Spielberg marked a very good round for Virtuosi Racing, who had both cars on the podium in both races of the round. Team newcomer Tamas Pal Kiss narrowly lost out to Sato in race one and claimed another second place in the following reverse-grid race. Meanwhile, Andrea Roda took third in the first race and then powered through to a maiden Auto GP win in race two.

Super Nova team leader Markus Pommer was plagued by technical issues all weekend, having had to sit out the second qualifying session and then retiring early on in race two. His teammate Michela Cerruti, meanwhile, bagged her third podium in the series.

Finally, another series frontrunner – FMS Racing’s Kevin Giovesi – looked well on his way to taking the win in the reverse-grid race after fourth in race one. However, the newly-appointed Caterham junior had a dreadfully slow mandatory pit-stop and then had a wheel come off on the outlap.

Euroformula Open: Stuvik back to the lead with Silverstone double

Photo: Fotospeedy

After a torrid time at the Hungaroring, Euroformula Open 2013 runner-up Sandy Stuvik was back to winning ways at Silverstone, reclaiming the lead in the championship in the process. The Thai racer converted a front row start into a victory on Saturday and then dominated on Sunday, winning the race from pole despite initially losing the lead over the opening lap.

His teammate and championship rival Artur Janosz struggled for pace at the British track and was forced into a weekend of damage limitation as he took two fifth-place finishes. Meanwhile, another title contender – Spanish wonderkid Alex Palou – ran very close to Stuvik in both races and left the weekend with two second places and moved into P2 in the points standings.

Team West-Tec’s new leader Yarin Stern had a solid Silvestone outing, rounding out the podium on both occasions. Meanwhile, Japanese racer Yu Kanamaru – who sits best of the rest in the standings behind the three title contenders – managed a pair of fourth-place results.

BRDC F4: Lanan trio get a win each at Oulton Park

Photo: Paul Davies Photography

The fourth round of the BRDC F4 championship at Oulton Park was kind to those racing under the banners of reigning champions Lanan Racing, with all three of their F4 drivers going home with a new victory trophy in each of their respective collections.

Championship leader George Russell had a truly spectacular start to his Oulton Park weekend as he topped qualifying with ease and proceeded to run laps around the field in the opening race. However, he could only make his way up to sixth in the reverse-grid race and then ended up crashing out with points rival Raoul Hyman, who up to that point scored two podiums in two races, in race three.

Indian rookie Arjun Maini was the top Lanan man in the reverse-grid race two, mastering the wet conditions to claim a confident victory. Finally, another Lanan driver Struan Moore converted his fastest-lap-based race three pole into a win of his own, which was preceded by two fourth-place finishes, making him the top points-scorer of the round.

HHC’s Will Palmer, who emerged as a championship contender with two victories at Snetterton, claimed podiums in the second and third race at Oulton Park and now equals teammate Hyman on points. However, he was only the third most successful driver of the round, pipped by MGR’s Chris Middlehurst, who claimed three top-five finishes and made two visits to the podium.

Formula Masters China: Solomon stops Munro’s winning streak at six

Photo: Formula Masters China

Eurasia Motorsport racer Matt Solomon ended James Munro‘s winning streak in Formula Masters China in round three of the season at Inje.

Solomon had a good shot of becoming the season’s second winner in race six, but made a slow start from pole and was passed by Munro, who claimed his sixth consecutive victory and made up a KCMG 1-2 with teammate Dan Wells.

The Hong Kong driver then started alongside Munro for the seventh race and managed to hold on to his maiden victory in the series after a better getaway off the line.

He would get another win in in race three after Munro and Wells both made jump starts off the line and then came together, with the Kiwi retiring on the spot and the Brit picking up a sizeable post-race penalty.

With the KCMG pair out of the way, Andersen Martono of Meritus and Darma Hutomo of Humpuss secured their first podiums in second and third respectively.

Formula Renault Argentina: Rey wins sole Buenos Aires race

Local Formula Renault racer Guillermo Rey took his second victory in the Argentinian series in the nation’s capital Buenos Aires, winning the Saturday race after topping free practice and qualifying. Emiliano Marino and Agustin Lima completed the podium, while Manuel Mallo and Felipe Schmauk made up the rest of the top five.

Championship leader Federico Cavagnero did not finish the race, whilst his closest rival Miguel Calamari took sixth, cutting the gap down to 20 points.

The Sunday race was called off amidst the near-cancellation of the headlining Super TC2000 event.

F3 Cup: Sowery takes fourth double at Oulton Park

Lanan Racing’s F3 Cup protege Toby Sowery did not let the team down amidst a clean sweep weekend for the squad.

Sowery added two F3 Cup victories to the three BRDC F4 successes of the team, winning both races by near ten seconds each.

Sowery’s nearest points rival Tristan Cliffe was second in both races, but now trails the youngster by a whopping 60 points with six races to go.

Star Driver: Stoffel Vandoorne

Photo: Sam Bloxham / GP2 Series Media Service

Some might rightfully say that the Belgian should’ve won at least one of the two Hockenheim races, but, in a thrilling weekend of changing conditions and varying tactics, it was only Vandoorne who impressively made the podium in both the tactics-heavy race one and the wet-dry race two.

With four podiums in the last six races, it seems McLaren’s young star is finally getting to grips with the GP2 series.

The post PaddockScout Roundup: GP2 and GP3 Hockenheim appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Alastair Staley / GP2 Series Media Service

Jolyon Palmer‘s sizeable points lead after two rounds might have been seen as a fluke, a by-product of GP2’s generally hectic nature – but, at Monte Carlo, that view largely became irrelevant as the Brit cemented his status as the title favorite. Comfortably quickest in practice and in qualifying, the Brit failed to lead the GP2 field into turn one of the feature race, but soon worked his way around leader Mitch Evans to retake first and went on to take the win. He was only seventh in the sprint race – his first podium-less race of the year – but now leads his nearest rivals by close to 50 points.

His teammate Stephane Richelmi had a tough first race from third on the grid as poorly-timed safety cars and stacking in the pits left him just eighth at the finish. However, the Monegasque would have nothing to complain about on Sunday, as he converted a reverse-grid pole into a career-first victory, fittingly taken on home turf.

Carlin’s Felipe Nasr – who is often viewed as Palmer’s main rival for the crown – had a dismal qualifying and started the feature race in 18th. He got a good start and opted for an early stop, which would prove to be a massive advantage when the safety car came out shortly thereafter. Quickest of those who managed to pit before, the Brazilian salvaged a podium finish from the first race – however, his luck would change on Sunday when a puncture forced him off at Mirabeau and out of the race.

Monte Carlo specialist Johnny Cecotto failed to continue his two-year pole streak at the circuit and, despite his naturally suitable driving style, struggled for pace on the longer stints in the races – yet still managed to take two fourth place finishes. His teammate Sergio Canamasas managed fifth in the first race after benefiting from an early stop and then took himself to second place in the reverse-grid race with a great start – marking his first podium in the series.

Two frontrunners of the pre-season – Evans and Rio Haryanto – finally bagged their first podiums of their respective campaigns. The same was not true for Daniel Abt or Alexander Rossi, who both remain at zero points after the latter took out the former in race one and effectively ending both their weekends.

Pre-season favorites Stefano Coletti and Stoffel Vandoorne both left Monte empty-handed – Coletti crashed into Simon Trummer for second in race one after a very spectacular race, while Vandoorne wasn’t called into the pits during a safety car period and forfeited his points chances.

Formula Renault 3.5: Nato bags first win, status quo maintained in the points race

Photo: Florent Gooden / DPPI / Renault Sport Media

Not content with winning both races in GP2, French squad DAMS dominated yet another series that took to the streets of Monaco this weekend. Their duo of Norman Nato and Carlos Sainz ran 1-2 in practice and were both on top of their respective grounds in qualifying. The Frenchman, who picked up pole with a superb flyer in Group B, started the sole race of the weekend from pole and proceeded to comfortably take his maiden victory in the series.

Sainz, meanwhile, was sent to fourth on the grid after having blocked fellow Red Bull junior Pierre Gasly in qualifying and would go on to finish the race in that position, with all his nearest points rivals scoring fewer points.

For Marco Sorensen and Jazeman Jaafar, who both took their first podiums of 2013 on this track, it was a weekend of deja vu. Just like 2013, they lined up third and second on the grid respectively. Just like 2013, Sorensen got the jump on Jaafar to take P2 into turn one. And, just like 2013, both of them finished on the podium, securing their first podiums of the season.

FR2.0 graduates Oliver Rowland and Gasly added solid points to their tallies by finishing fifth and seventh respectively. Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi were also in the points, while the remaining member of the top six – Nikolay Martsenko – sat out the weekend for a combination of personal and monetary reasons.

Championship standings

Formula Renault 2.0 Alps: Isaakyan puts his name on the map with two wins

Photo: Fast Lane Promotion

SMP Racing protege Matevos Isaakyan proved to be the star of the FR2.0 Alps weekend at Spielberg, picking up his first two wins in Formula Renault racing in comfortable fashion. The Russian started both races from pole – albeit that would only be determined hours after qualifying following penalties three consecutive provisional polesitters – and comfortably led them both lights to flag, securing JD Motorsport’s first victories in the series.

George Russell joined Isaakyan on front row for race two and converted that into his first podium in the championship. The Koiranen man then went on to finish fifth in race two. His teammate and championship leader Nyck de Vries, who won the previous four races of the season, managed two third places on the Austrian track and increased his lead in the standings.

Charles Leclerc narrowly missed out on a podium finish in both races, which was still enough to take solid points out of the weekend. Meanwhile, Cram’s Alessio Rovera made the points for the first time in race one and then drove a great race on Sunday to secure his first podium in the series.

Simon Gachet was among the penalized provisional polemen after qualifying but was demoted to the back of the back due to a fuel infringement. The Frenchman fought his way back into the points for both races, but has still been demoted from second to fourth in the standings.

Formula Renault 2.0 NEC: Amweg and Morris take maiden wins

Photo: Formula Renault 2.0 NEC

With the series now at four winners and ten different podium finishers in four races, the NEC series is looking as unpredictable as they get, following the second round at Silverstone.

This time around, the variance in results was very much tied to qualifying, as the weather conditions changed radically between the first and second session.

Having locked out the front row, ART Junior Team duo of Levin Amweg and Aurelien Panis secured a 1-2 finish of the team in the race – with Amweg beating poleman Panis off the line and leading him home. Neither of them finished race two.

Both aforementioned drivers celebrated their first podiums in Formula Renault racing in that race and so has third-placed Jake Hughes – albeit the Mark Burdett man performed much better in the subsequent race, taking a respectable fourth.

Fortec drivers Seb Morris and Ben Barnicoat were on front row for the second race – the former having spun out while chasing the latter in the earlier outing. The two remained in position off the line, but Barnicoat made contact when defending his position later on and wound up with a puncture. Morris brought the car home in first, narrowly seeing off first-time podium finisher Callan O’Keeffe.

With such variance in results, consistency is key – and, as such it’s Steijn Schothorst who leads the standings after two rounds, having picked up two fifths and two thirds.

British F3: High-profile guest drivers run the show at Silverstone

Photo: British F3 International Circuit

When Fortec announced Marvin Kirchhofer for Silverstone and Carlin then added Egor Orudzhev to the rounds’ entry list, it seemed like this would be a round where the five regulars wouldn’t have much of a chance to shine. However, Martin Cao, the championship leader, subverted the expectations early on by taking double pole in a wet qualifying session.

Still, the 30 minute races put everything back in its place – in race one, Orudzhev starred in heavy rain, with Cao leading Kirchhofer in second. The German would probably have been disappointed with only third place and turned it around in the subsequent races, winning both of them with ease.

Cao twice finished second to Kirchhofer and increased his overall points lead, now having a record of six consecutive second-place finishes since the start of the season. In a retirement-heavy race two, it was Carlin’s Peter Li Zhi Cong who completed the podium after the race was red flagged – while, in race three, Fortec man Matt Rao was the one to round out the top three.

There was little doubt about Orudzhev’s pace in the dry, but he didn’t get to show it off much – crashing into then championship runner-up Andy Chang Wing Chung in race two and retiring with a technical problem in race three.

Chang’s subsequent retirement was just the top of a tough weekend for Double R, as neither he nor Camren Kaminsky made it onto the podium.

German F3: Pommer pulls away with another two victories

Photo: Alexander Trienitz / ATS Formel 3 Cup

German F3 title favorite Markus Pommer increased his lead in the standings after a successful secound round at Lausitz. The series veteran showed pace early on by taking double pole in qualifying. However, he suffered a terrible start in race one and was further tagged by an off-course Nikita Zlobin, but luckily managed to continue, recovering to fourth at the finish line. He then made easy work of the reverse-grid race two before dominating race three.

His main rival coming into the weekend – Nabil Jeffri – retired from race one after an avoidable collision and then struggled from the back of the grid in race two. He was back on the podium in race three, but has now dropped to fourth in the standings.

VAR’s Sam MacLeod was there to pick up the pieces when Jeffri retired from the opening race and went on to claim his first win in the series. He made the podium in race two and, despite stalling on the grid in the final outing, fought his way back up to secure another third place.

Indy Dontje added two more podium finishes to his tally, but is still winless – his podium streak came to an end in race three when he was bogged down behind the stalled MacLeod off the line and could only fight back to fourth.

Finally, amidst all the chaos, there was cause for celebration for JBR’s Nicolai Sylvest, who managed his first podium finish in the series in race one.

ADAC Formel Masters: Dienst joins title fight as Gunther closes in on Jensen

Photo: ADAC Formel Masters

After a somewhat slow start to his season, Marvin Dienst showed he can mix it with the leading duo by locking out pole positions for both feature races at Lausitzring. He was beaten off the line in race one and had to settle for second, yet managed to see off the opposition to take his first feature race win of the season the next day.

It was Maximilian Gunther who stole the win from Dienst in the opening race before finishing second to his teammate in race two. Championship leader Mikkel Jensen rounded out the podium in both feature races, which allowed him to remain in the lead in the points standings.

Team Lotus didn’t have much to boast about in the first two races of the round but locked out the podium in the reverse-grid outing. Dennis Marschall converted pole into a first win ahead of impressive debutant Luis-Enrique Breuer and Ralph Boschung. Dienst and Gunther rounded out the top five – while Jensen was the only retirement of the race, having went off on lap three.

FA1: Melker and Bortolotti remain only winners in series

Photo: Formula Acceleration

FA1’s third round at Nurburgring saw, perhaps, the championship’s strongest grid thus far, yet there were no new winners as the same two drivers continued to battle for the top step of the podium.

Nigel Melker, who won both races at Navarra, took pole for the Saturday race and, despite dropping to third during the opening stint, proceeded to win due to a good pit stop strategy. He was again on pole the day after, but a clutch failure sent the Dutchman out of the race before it even commenced.

His main rival Mirko Bortolotti recovered from being spun out on lap one of the first race to eventually take second at the line. He then went on to win the second race and retake the championship lead.

Series debutant Alessio Picariello made a good early impression and even led the early stint of the opening race before falling back to fourth due to a miscommunication with the pit crew. In second race, he was again fourth, having recovered from a bad opening lap.

Richard Gonda was in contention for the win in both races but ultimately settled for third on Saturday and second on Sunday. Sergio Campana was also among the frontrunners and finally overcame recurring bad luck to secure a maiden podium in race two.

Formula Masters China: Munro maintains unbeaten streak five races in

Photo: Formula Masters China

Kiwi James Munro made a serious statement in favour of his title chances in the second Formula Masters China round at Shanghai, taking three wins from pole and bringing his overall tally to five consecutive victories since the start of the season. The KCMG racer led every lap of the weekend despite pressure from rivals and now has a very solid lead at the front of the standings.

His teammate Dan Wells was the closest to challenging Munro over the first two races and, despite narrowly missing out on the podium in the final one, he now sits as the Kiwi’s chief opponent. Matthew Solomon also gave Munro trouble, nearly managing to steal the win in race three and managing to secure top three finishes in all the races.

KCMG’s third man Matthew Swanepoel was let down by a weak performance in qualifying, but managed to score decent points in the races – in contrast to his performance at round one, where he topped qualifying but recorded zero points. Meanwhile, Meritus leader Aston Hare had a solid round, finishing fourth in the first two races and then picking up his first podium of the season in race three.

F3 Brazil: Moraes and Guerra take maiden wins at Interlagos

Photo: Bruno Terena / Vicar

Brazilian F3’s Class A was a bit of a one-way street prior to Interlagos, with Pedro Piquet picking up the maximum amount of points in the six previous races. However, the youngster only managed third and fifth throughout the weekend at the classic Sao Paulo track, leaving the way open for new winners to emerge.

Lukas Moraes took a comfortable lights-to-flag win in a wet opening race, with Class B star Vitor Baptista and frequent MRF Challenge racer Renan Guerra completing the podium.

Guerra, making his F3 Brazil debut at this round, then went on to fight his way through the field in the second race and was the eventual winner, with Baptista again in second and Piquet taking third.

Piquet still comfortably leads the Class A standings with Bruno Etman (who bagged two fourth-place finishes) in second and Moraes in third. Baptista is now eight for eight wins in Class B.

F3 Cup: Powell wins twice on return

2013 F3 Cup runner-up Alice Powell took two victories on her one-off return to the series at Rockingham. Powell narrowly saw off championship leader Toby Sowery on both occasions, winning by 0.35s in race one and by 1.3s in race two. Louis Hamilton-Smith and Tristan Cliffe picked up a podium each.

In the standings, Sowery leads with 181 points. Cliffe is his nearest rival at 42 points adrfit.

Formula Renault Argentina: Schmauk enters title fight with Rosario double

Chilean racer Felipe Schmauk made himself a factor in the 2014 Formula Renault Argentina title race with two wins at Rosario. In both racers, he was followed by Federico Cavagnero, who increased his points lead in the overall classification.

Guillermo Rey closed out the podium in race one, while 2012 champion Carlos Javier Merlo secured third in the second race.

In the standings, Cavagnero leads with 88 points, while Schmauk is now second at 71.

Star Driver: Matevos Isaakyan

A month and a half ago at Imola, Matevos Isaakyan was barred from participating in the FR2.0 Alps due to being too young. As of the end of this weekend, he is now a two-time race winner in the series. At Spielberg, he delivered two of his most mature and confident drives in single-seaters. If single-seater fans didn’t know his name before, they should now.

The post PaddockScout Roundup: GP2 & FR3.5 Monaco appeared first on Formula Scout.

There’s virtually nothing between Marciello and Rosenqvist on their current form (Photo: FIA F3 / Thomas Suer)

In a round of penalties and subsequent successful appeals at Norisring, Raffaele Marciello and Felix Rosenqvist take a victory each, maintaining? their leading duo status, while Alex Lynn scores second win of 2013…

FIA European F3 Championship

It’s all square between Marciello and Rosenqvist at Norisring amidst penalty chaos

Round six of the European F3 championship taking place at Norisring was most peculiar in the sense that the center stage for its entirety was occupied by anything but racing – with at least two major penalty controversies severely impacting the entire weekend. However, amidst the chaos of rules and appeals, the series drivers still managed to impress around what is a very challenging track, severely decreasing the amount of incidents compared to the series’ visit last year and producing quick, close racing.

Again, as has been the case for most of the season, it was all about two drivers. Raffaele Marciello, the championship leader, was one of them, and the Ferrari junior was back on form after a nightmarish weekend at Spielberg. He missed out on race one pole by 0.001s, but was the most consistently quick over one lap pace in both sessions, thus taking pole position for races two and three. Marciello’s weekend looked all the more promising when he took the lead off the line in race one and dominated the proceedings in his usual fashion. The trouble started after the Italian crossed the line in first and attended the podium ceremony, upon which he and 11 other drivers were informed that they’d receive 20-second penalties for failure to slow down accordingly for double-waved yellows. He was demoted in the classification, yet, after an appeal from Prema, Marciello was one of the drivers to have his penalty lifted, his race victory reinstated.

In race two, Marciello was beaten off the line by an on-form Alex Lynn and, trying to hold on to the lead through turn one, was forced wide, which saw him fall down to fifth on the road. From that point on, Marciello’s race was a recovery drive and he eventually settled into third. He made a better start in race three, but couldn’t hold on to the win, lacking that race-winning pace and coming home in second. As a result, his championship lead has taken a slight hit, though he still leads the series standings.

The other center of attention was Felix Rosenqvist, Marciello’s main rival in the standings, coming off a perfect Spielberg weekend where he picked up three wins. He was the one to snatch away pole in qualifying one, and generally looked very rapid around Norisring, but his chances of a great round came under threat when the fuel in his car was found to not comply with the regulations. The implications of that would mean that he’d start all three races from the back, but, with Mucke Motorsport filing an appeal, Rosenqvist kept his grid positions, albeit now racing under a severe possibility of disqualification.

In race one, Felix lost out to Raffaele off the start and was forced to settle for second at the line, after which he was not allowed onto the podium. He was, again, second in race two, making the most out of the fight between the Prema teammates, and was yet again absent from the podium ceremonies. On Sunday, it all got better, though – upon review, the penalty was lifted, removing the threat of disqualification and allowing Rosenqvist to keep his finishes. That seemed to bolster his spirits and he managed to beat Marciello on pace to take a strong race three win, putting himself just 24.5 points behind the Italian in the standings.

A strong Norisring showing from Lynn saw him move up to third overall (Photo: FIA F3)

While Rosenqvist and Marciello continued their title fight, Prema’s Alex Lynn was the best of the rest. He qualified well and finished on the podium behind the pair in races one and three, while, in race two, he scored his second win of the season. Meanwhile, Lucas Auer, another Prema frontrunner, had an awful time, qualifying a bit down the order and then losing his podium in race one to a yellow flag penalty that, unlike the ones for Lynn and Marciello, was not lifted. Auer didn’t make the top ten in race two classification either and, while he did score some points in race three, but, overall, this will be a weekend to forget for the Austrian.

The potential penalties for the leaders created a rollercoaster of emotions for EuroInternational’s Tom Blomqvist who, despite finishing seventh on the road in race one, was given his first victory in European F3 post-race. A noticeably baffled Blomqvist didn’t seem to take much pride in the win and hopefully wasn’t too upset when it was taken away due to appeals that, in the end, placed him in fifth. The rest of the weekend was a lot calmer for the Red Bull junior, who drove well to produce two more solid points finishes.

The Fortec charge, now down to only two drivers, was once again led by Felix Serralles, who took fourth in race one and sixth in race two. In race three, however, Serralles severely hurt the overall impression of his weekend, crashing into Jann Mardenborough and ending his own race. Meanwhile, Pipo Derani had one of his best weekends this year, with two strong top ten finishes in races two and three.

Series frontrunner Harry Tincknell had a rather quiet weekend, largely running in the deep end of the top ten for all three races. The same was true for his teammate Jordan King, and the duo quite frequently found themselves embroiled in wheel-to-wheel fights.

Finally, two drivers, who were making their first appearance in the series in 2013, both managed to impress. Alex Sims turned out to be a great stand-in for T-Sport, helping them to their most prolific (points-wise) weekend of 2013 and being a frequent competitor in the top five. Meanwhile,Nick Cassidy looked very competent at the wheel of the second EuroInternational car, yet a lack of consistency and luck means he leaves the weekend with a best finish of 11th.

Report: Marciello takes race one win amidst fuel controversy for Rosenqvist

Blomqvist inherits race one win as 12 drivers get time penalties

Norisring race one victory given back to Raffaele Marciello

Report: Alex Lynn secures second win of the season at Norisring

Felix Rosenqvist to keep his results in races one and two

Report: Rosenqvist takes race three win at Norisring

Next round: Nurburgring, August 16-18

Auto GP

Maiden winners lose victories to penalties as Campana levels with Sato

Giovesi has won twice on the road already, but lost the victory post-race both times (Photo: Auto GP World Series)

Taking place during a weekend that turned out to be mostly about controversial penalties in junior single-seaters, the Mugello round of the Auto GP World Series adhered to the general theme rather well, as two drivers who took their maiden wins throughout the round found them taken away post-race.

Dutchman Meindert van Buuren lined up on the grid of race one in eighth place, but turned out to be the biggest beneficiary in a race full of on-track mayhem, making his way up the field to eventually cross the finish line in first place, taking his first podium and victory in the series. A few hours later, the Manor MP driver was penalized for crossing the white line on pit exit after making his mandatory stop, which resulted in a penalty, demoting van Buuren to tenth in the classification.

A similar story occurred in race two, which, on-track was won by Kevin Giovesi, the Italian GP2 driver who’s entered the Auto GP series a round prior. Giovesi, who was in contention for the victory in race one and ultimately was classified in second, took the lead into turn one from seventh on the grid in the second race. He converted the lead into a victory, but was judged to have disrespected track limits during his turn one manoeuvre, making for a post-race time penalty that demoted him to fifth. It’s worth noting that Giovesi already crossed the line in first in Auto GP in the previous run, but was likewise denied the win after the race.

Van Buuren’s penalty in race one benefited series frontrunner Sergio Campana, who inherited the race win, having wisely kept out of trouble on the road, something his main rivals couldn’t do. The Italian was then denied points in race two, falling out of the top ten due to a slow pitstop, but his race one win promoted him to the top of the standings

F1 refugee Narain Karthikeyan was the beneficiary in race two, having endured a difficult weekend up to that point. He topped qualifying, but an issue with the car meant that Karthikeyan would be starting from the pitlane. He managed to recover to fourth (with van Buuren’s penalty making that a podium finish), and then later finished second in the reverse-grid race to inherit the win.

As for previous series leader Kimiya Sato, the Japanese driver had a very tough round ahead of his F1 Young Drivers’ Test appearance with Sauber. His race one ended early after he was taken out by Christian Klien and, although he managed to make it to the top three in race two, the Euronova driver lost the series lead. At this stage, though, it’s all a formality, as Campana and Sato are level on points.

Finally, Super Nova’s Vittorio Ghirelli continued to quietly edge himself into title contention, now only 13 points behind the leading duo. He could’ve very well led the series by now, but a mistake after a green flag restart in race one saw him miss out on the fight for the race win. He made up for it in the second race, taking his sixth podium finish of the year.

Report: Campana inherits Mugello win after van Buuren penalised

Report: Giovesi loses victory to Karthikeyan again

Next round: Nurburgring, 16-18 August

European F3 Open

Urrutia and Jones bolster title claims yet the lead remains with Stuvik

16-year-old Urrutia took the second win of his rookie campaign (Photo: FOTOSPEEDY)

Series leader Sandy Stuvik looked set to make up for a distinctly average performance at the previous round, taking Saturday pole for European F3’s Saturday affair. However, it wasn’t to be, as the Thai racer lost out on the lead into turn one and then continued to fall down the order due to poorly-judged overtaking attempts, eventually finishing fifth. Stuvik then made up for the lost points in race two, calmly converting a front row start into second place, but, overall, his points lead has taken another hit with three rounds to go.

It’s Team West-Tec’s Ed Jones who should, at this point in time, seem the most threatening to Stuvik’s lead. The driver from United Arab Emirates managed to snatch away the race win on Saturday, making the most out of incidents ahead, and then added a podium on Sunday. He’s now only seven points behind Stuvik, despite having missed the first round of the series.

Another contender for the title and Stuvik’s teammate at RP Motorsport, Santiago Urrutia enjoyed a very strong round that saw him emerge from an outside shot at the championship into the immediate proximity of the series leader. He started race one in eighth, but was second come checkered flag. In race two, the young driver from Uruguay took his second win of the championship, securing a lights-to-flag win from pole.

Canadian Nelson Mason is still within the hunt as well, even if his bad luck in the series continued with two incidents at Silverstone. In race one, he had to settle for third after contact with Alex Toril saw him lose the lead, while on Sunday he was taken out from fourth by Hector Hurst. A comeback is still quite possible though – he is only four points behind Urrutia and 32 behind Stuvik.

The aforementioned Toril was the best of the rest throughout the weekend, taking two fourth places and settling into fifth in the standings. Meanwhile, in the Copa class, both series leader Richard Gonda and Tommaso Menchini picked up wins, but it’s Cameron Twynham who was the most consistent scorer, now trailing Gonda by 12 points.

Report: Jones victorious in a thrilling F3 Open race

Report: Urrutia wins the second Silverstone race in F3 Open

Next round: Spa-Francorchamps, 6-8 September

Formula Abarth

Frontrunners Rovera, Iaquinta and Beretta add to their win tallies at Mugello

Alessio Rovera remains unbeatable in qualifying runs, with six poles in six sessions (Photo: CSAI-ACI)

The Mugello round of Formula Abarth marked the end of the season’s first half and also saw what was perhaps series leader Alessio Rovera‘s weakest performance to date. The Italian was still inarguably the quickest man of the field, topping both qualifying sessions and completely dominating the first race to take win number four of his season. In race two, however, he collected series guest Kevin Gilardoni during his fight through the reverse-grid field, marking Rovera’s first retirement of the year. A three-place grid penalty followed for race three, in which Rovera could not make up any ground, seemingly struggling with damaged machinery to finish in fourth. Still, his lead is pretty safe, with 37 points over the nearest rival.

That nearest rival is now Michele Beretta, who made the most out of a weekend where the other frontrunners struggled, making it to the podium in the first two races and taking his first victory in the series to round out the weekend. Meanwhile, Simone Iaquinta also added to his win tally in the reverse-grid race, but was severely hampered by mechanical issues in qualifying that put him at the back for the feature races, preventing him from fighting for podiums.

One-off drivers Giorgio Roda, Gilardoni and Dario Orsini all seemed reasonably quick and bagged a podium each. Meanwhile, the best regular of the rest – Brazilian Lukas Moraes – noticeably struggled for pace, but looked very strong in the reverse-grid race, almost holding off Beretta for second and eventually closing out the podium.

In the National class, Russian Sergey Trofimov was the top driver in all three races, extending his lead in the standings.

Report: Rovera leads Cram 1-2 in Saturday race at Mugello

Report: Iaquinta eases to reverse-grid victory at Mugello

Report: Beretta takes maiden Abarth win at Mugello

Next round: Imola, 30 August – 1 September

Formula Renault 1.6 Sweden

The third round of the FR 1.6 Sweden season, taking place at Falkenberg, saw yet another double. This time, the two wins were picked up by Erik Johansson, who converted both poles into race wins.

In race one, the podium was completed by Lukas Sundahl and Martin Rump, while, in race two, Rump went one better in second, with Pontus Fredricsson rounding out the top three.

Estonian Rump now sits on top of the standings with 111 points, but both previous leader Kimmy Larsson (who finished fourth and fifth at Falkenberg) and Johansson are not far behind, setting up an interesting fight for the series lead for the next round.

Next round: Kinnekulle, 26-27 July

Formula Renault Argentina

Series veteran Julian Santero continued to dominate this year’s Formula Renault Argentina, picking up both wins in races eight and nine of the season at Rio Hondo.

Santero started race one from pole and, by the checkered flag, beat Manuel Luque to the line by eight seconds, with Guillermo Rey picking up his first podium in the series in third.

In race two, Santero produced another good drive to take his seventh win of the year, with Luque again in second and Manuel Mallo in third.

With six races to go in the season, Santero leads nearest rival Luque by 49 points.

Next round: Catamarca, 10-11 August

Japanese F3

The fourth round of the season, taking place at Fuji, saw another double pole from series leader Yuichi Nakayama.

However, the 21-year-old Petronas Team Tom’s driver could not hold on to the lead, losing out to teammate and main rival Takamoto Katsuta on lap one and settling for second, with series veteran Tomoki Nojiri taking third.

In race two, Nakayama converted pole into a dominant win, finishing ahead of Katsura and Nobuharu Matsushita.

Overall, Nakayama leads the standings with 98 points to Katsura’s 65, with Nojiri down in third with only 29 points.

Next round: Motegi, 2-4 August

PaddockScout Driver of the Weekend

Felix Rosenqvist

It could have honestly gone either way, with Santiago Urrutia also making a very good case for being driver of the weekend, but in the end, Rosenqvist just impressed that little bit more. He was on it in qualifying, finished second on the road in the first two races before, very impressively, snatching the race win away from Marciello in race three. Perhaps, he could’ve done more, but the fact that Rosenqvist raced under pressure of a potential disqualification, not allowed on the podium for the first two races and excluded from the classification at first, created very difficult conditions for the Swede and, yet, we saw him thrive – and that’s what was, perhaps, the best part of his Norisring performance.

The post Roundup: Marciello and Rosenqvist preserve status quo at Norisring appeared first on Formula Scout.