Photo: Auto GP

Despite some notable flaws, the 2013 Auto GP season was quite thrilling as it delivered a season-long close fight for the championship. In the end, four drivers went into the finale with a shot at the title and it was Vittorio Ghirelli who emerged victorious after a breakthrough season.

2014 promised more of the same, with a number of potential championship contenders landing seats in the series. Kevin Giovesi and Tamas Pal Kiss returned after great part-time stints in 2013. Sergio Campana, who had finished that season in third, was also back. Former F2 frontrunner Markus Pommer landed a coveted Super Nova seat. Finally, despite some clashing GP2 commitments, 2013 runner-up Kimiya Sato was back as well.

All of that made for excellent intrigue, but the suspense in the title fight was short-lived. While some of the individual races were great, the champion would become obvious after just three rounds.

The champion

Having narrowly missed out in 2014, Sato made the most of his second shot at the Auto GP title (Photo: Auto GP)

Kimiya Sato started off the season by qualifying in fifth place at Marrakech, which was quite promising for those worried that last season’s runner-up came back to dominate. Unfortunately for them, it was a false dawn.

The Japanese driver won a crazy opening race to take the lead in the championship, which he maintained by finishing on the podium in the next three races.

But his biggest hit to the opposition was delivered at the Hungaroring. He seemed to have hit trouble in qualifying, caught out by a red flag to start ninth. But it took him one lap to take fourth and, eventually, he fought through to the win. Eighth on the grid for the second race, he won that one as well.

It should’ve been over after that, but a glimmer of hope for his opponents surfaced when he missed the Monza round. Yet he’d come back at Imola to take victory again. At Spielberg, he took his first pole and actually lost the lead off the line, but bounced back to win yet another feature race.

Finally, at the penultimate Nurburgring round, brake problems in qualifying forced Sato to start last. But, as he fought through and those around him picked up penalties for yellow flag infringements, he’d again be the winner. The day after that, he crowned champion.

The fact that he missed four races speaks volumes about his dominance. He was on the podium in all but two of his outings, one of which included a suspension failure when running in third.

The regulars

After losing two wins via post-race decisions in 2014, Giovesi finally got one to stick this year (Photo: Auto GP)

There might not have been much of a title fight, but those in Sato’s shadow did manage to put on a solid scrap for the runner-up spot, which seemed to change hands every weekend.

The first two rounds of the season saw qualifying locked out by Kevin Giovesi with the new Eurotech squad. He led much of the first race at Marrakech, but lost the lead to Tamas Pal Kiss and subsequently forced the Hungarian and himself into the barriers.

After nearly stalling on the grid in race one and then spinning out, Super Nova’s Markus Pommer lined up on race two pole and comfortably won his first race. Kiss and Giovesi didn’t take long as well, celebrating their first victories at Paul Ricard.

Out of the three, Kiss was the most consistent. He often finished on the podium and did not record a DNF since the opener. However, an Imola weekend full of technical difficulties was followed by the Hungarian leaving Zele Racing for Virtuosi for the three final rounds. He won two races with the British team and comfortably secured second in the standings.

Pommer was definitely the top man in qualifying, claiming four poles throughout the season, but struggled to convert that into race pace. In fairness, he also had a fair share of mechanical issues – with two pole positions undone by tyre issues (Hungaroring) and a first-lap failure (Imola).

Giovesi lost some top results to luck as well. At Monza, a pit stop issue robbed him of a podium, albeit he rebounded to win the second race. He was on track to win a third race at Spielberg, but his car’s wheel broke off, sending him into retirement.

Kiss and Pommer ended up taking centre stage in the fight for the runner-up spot (Photo: Auto GP)

When the Italian missed the finale, he ended up slipping back to fifth in the standings, overtaken by Andrea Roda. The Virtuosi driver enjoyed easily his best season in single-seaters yet, although it started with disaster when he crashed out of second on the final lap in the Marrakech opener. Still, he was classified in seventh and ended up enjoying a perfect point-scoring run. At Spielberg, when Giovesi lost his wheel, Roda picked up the pieces to get his first race win.

Michela Cerruti also enjoyed a bit of a single-seater breakthrough, quickly getting up to pace with the Super Nova team and eventually held off Giovesi at Imola to take her first Auto GP victory. She then fought her way up from the back of the grid in a retirement-heavy Spielberg race, claiming a second podium.

A word has to be said for the series’ regular journeymen Michele La Rosa and Giuseppe Cipriani, who both seemed to improve on the previous seasons and even got to stand on the podium, albeit only in the ridiculous Marrakech opener.

The part-timers

Michimi’s three-round stint culminated in a surprise win at Estoril (Photo: Auto GP)

It was a pleasant surprise to see F3 Open race winner Sam Dejonghe get a chance with Virtuosi after missing most of 2013. He had some tough luck during the first two weekends, hit by La Rosa at Marrakech and retiring due to mechanical failures at Paul Ricard. He did take a maiden podium at the Hungaroring, but lost the seat right after.

Sergio Campana was set to contest his third year in Auto GP, but crashed out in race one at Marrakech and was out with technical issues in race two. He left the series after the round, going on to race in FA1 for the rest of the year.

2011 CIK-FIA KF2 world champion Loris Spinelli got a chance to race with Eurotech. After finishing sixth in the opener, he led the Marrakech reverse-grid race early on before parking it in the barriers. Another reverse-grid chance was wasted when his gearbox failed at Paul Ricard and, after two further difficult rounds, he left the series.

Shinya Michimi was on course to take fourth on his Monza debut, but retired with a car issue. He did manage a solid points weekend at Spielberg and then won the Estoril finale due to a superb early stop strategy.

2013 champion Vittorio Ghirelli returned for three rounds and finished second twice. Meanwhile, 2012 runner-up Pal Varhaug made a one-off appearance at Imola, taking a fourth and third.

Ex-F1 driver Antonio Pizzonia and GP3’s Luis Sa Silva joined Zele for the Estoril finale and both got to stand on the podium in the reverse-grid race.

Future plans

After having spent 2014 with Campos, Sato went on to test with 2013 champions Russian Time (Photo: Dunbar / GP2 Series)

Sato’s concurrent debut season in GP2 was nothing to write home about but his Auto GP dominance should earn him another stab at the F1 support series. During the Abu Dhabi test, he ran with Russian Time for a day.

Kiss reportedly seeks the budget for an ELMS seat and apparently has offers from several teams.

Pommer might have failed to win the Auto GP series, but has the “small” consolation of a well-deserved German F3 title. He seems to be in Motopark’s good graces and could move up to FIA F3 with the Oschersleben squad.

Cerruti is currently racing in Formula E with Trulli GP, having recorded a best finish of 12th in the three races.

Giovesi retuned to GP2 for the season finale, but has not participated in the post-season testing. His compatriot Roda took part in a Porsche Carrera Cup Italy introduction test.

The post 2014 Auto GP season review appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Auto GP

Tamas Pal Kiss was victorious in the second Auto GP race of the series’ penultimate weekend at the Nurburgring.

The Hungarian driver assumed the lead during the second lap and comfortably kept pace throughout the remainder of the race to celebrate his second victory of the season.

Following Kiss for the bigger part of the race, Markus Pommer took second, finishing right ahead of Kimiya Sato, who completed the podium.

Having also recorded the fastest lap of the race, Sato ended up with a 50-points lead in the standings, which was enough to?officially win him the 2014 Auto GP championship.

Italian trio Andrea Roda, Michela Cerruti and Kevin Giovesi finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively as the latter was closely followed by Euronova’s Yoshitaka Kuroda.

The race was completed by gentleman drivers Michele La Rosa, Giuseppe Cipriani, Francesco Dracone and Salvatore Deplano.

Sato is the fifth champion of the Auto GP’s current era, following in the footsteps of F1 driver Romain Grosjean, Italian Kevin Ceccon, GP2 race winner Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Vittorio Ghirelli.

Race results

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Photo: Auto GP

Kimiya Sato ended up taking his sixth victory of the Auto GP season in a feature race full of penalties during the 2014 campaign’s penultimate stop at the Nurburgring.

The race started with a three-way battle for the lead between Kevin Giovesi, Tamas Pal Kiss and polesitter Markus Pommer, while Sato, who started from last, impressively fought his way up to fourth before the first pit stops.

After most of the competitors had changed tyres, several drivers including Sato, Pommer and Giovesi were given a drive-through penalty for setting improving sector times under yellow flag conditions earlier on in the race.

With his rivals ruled out of the fight, Virtuosi’s Kiss cruised to take victory at the flag, only to be relegated to fourth post-race due to a penalty for the very same yellow flag infringement.

This, despite Sato’s penalty, allowed the Japanese racer to claim the win from last place on the grid, with Giovesi and Pommer both also moving up a spot in the classification.

As such, Sato extends his championship lead and can now realistically clinch the title in tomorrow’s reverse-grid race. He leads nearest rival Kiss by 58 points, with only 49 available in the championship’s finale at Estoril.

Francesco Dracone originally claimed fifth on the road, but wound up relegated to eighth post-race. As such, Andrea Roda and Michela Cerruti finished fifth and sixth respectively, less than three tenths apart.

Euronova’s Yoshitaka Kuroda was promoted to seventh, while Michele La Rosa rounded out the finishing order.

Race results

* – 25-second post-race penalty

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Photo: Auto GP

Super Nova’s lead driver Markus Pommer was fastest in the rainy Auto GP qualifying at the Nurburgring.

The German driver timed his benchmark Q2 lap in perfectly, crossing the finish line as rain started to pour down the track. The times got drastically slower as the session went on, which ensured pole for the German at his home track.

A problematic qualifying for title contender Kimiya Sato saw him eliminated in Q1 – as such, he will have to start the first race from the last place. The Japanese driver suffered brake problems for the bigger part of the session and, while he was able to join?the track in the last couple of minutes, he would go off, causing a ed flag

In Q2, series?frontrunners Kevin Giovesi and Tamas Pal Kiss took second and third, separated by 0.012s. The former previously led Q1 by more than seven tenths, but had to settle for second overall.

Italian quartet Michela Cerruti, Andrea Roda, Francesco Dracone and Michele La Rosa claimed grid positions from fourth to seventh.

Japanese racer Yoshitaka Kuroda took eighth, followed by Salvatore Deplano and Giuseppe Cipriani, with the latter not completing a lap in the second part of the qualifying.

Qualifying results

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Photo: Auto GP

FMS Racing’s Kevin Giovesi topped the practice session of the 2014 Auto GP season’s penultimate round at the Nurburgring.

The Caterham junior,?who sits fourth in the standings, narrowly beat out championship leader Kimiya Sato in wet track conditions, while other frontrunners Tamas Pal Kiss and Markus Pommer finished third and fourth respectively.

Outside of the top four, all the remaining drivers were more then a second and a half behind the leader. As such, Super Nova’s Michela Cerruti was best of the rest, a second down on her teammate Pommer.

Japanese Yoshitaka Kuroda took sixth with gentleman drivers Giuseppe Cipriani and Michele La Rosa securing seventh and eighth.

The order was completed by Virtuosi’s Andrea Roda, Super Nova’s Francesco Dracone and Euronova’s Salvatore Deplano.

Session results

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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: Auto GP

Italian racer Andrea Roda celebrated his maiden victory in the Auto GP series in a high-attrition second race at Spielberg.

Roda finished a few seconds up the road from teammate Tamas Pal Kiss after potential contenders Kevin Giovesi and Kimiya Sato hit trouble in the closing laps of the race.

Giovesi opted to leave his stop late, as in race one, and looked likely to assume the lead after, but his pit stop went completely awry with an issue on the left rear wheel. The Italian returned to the track in fifth and then had to retire when that very same wheel broke off.

On the same lap, bad luck struck championship leader Sato, who was all over Kiss in a fight for provisional second. The Japanese racer endured what looked like a suspension failure and had to pull over, recording his first retirement of the season.

Earlier on, front row starter Christof von Grunigen overtook reverse-grid poleman Michele La Rosa for the lead at the start of the race, but then spun out into Remus on lap two, ending his race prematurely.

As such, with all the issues for drivers around him, Roda calmly drove to the checkered flag, with his Hungarian stablemate completing a Virtuosi 1-2 six seconds down the road.

Michela Cerruti held on to third, narrowly keeping Euronova’s Shinya Michimi at bay despite the latter recording the fastest lap of the race in his pursuit. La Rosa finished fifth, while Salvatore Deplano completed the running order in sixth place.

Giuseppe Cipriani was the chaotic race’s first retirement, crashing out in the first corner of the opening lap.

Race results

The post Roda leads Virtuosi 1-2 in chaotic Spielberg race two appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Auto GP

Japanese racer Shinya Michimi led Auto GP’s 45-minute free practice session ahead of the championship’s sixth round at Spielberg.

Michimi dethroned compatriot Kimiya Sato with a last-second effort that put him a tenth clear of the standings leader.

Tamas Pal Kiss, who led much of his first session following his switch from Zele Racing to Virtuosi, was originally third, just 0.006s slower than Sato. However, he was promoted to second when Sato’s best time of the session was cancelled due to a track limits infringement.

Super Nova International duo of Markus Pommer?and?Michela Cerruti rounded out the top five with FMS Racing’s Kevin Giovesi in sixth.

Andrea Roda led Zele’s sole entrant Christof von Grunigen in seventh, while Giuseppe Cipriani, Michele La Rosa and Salvatore Deplano made up the rest of order.

Session results

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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: Auto GP

Michela Cerruti became the first female driver to win in the history of Auto GP after a close victory at Imola.

Starting from fourth, Cerruti took advantage of a poor start from Christof von Grunigen,?before overtaking both Francesco Dracone and Giuseppe Cipriani to take the lead.

Kevin Giovesi also worked his way through the field, however, unable to pass Cerruti, he had to settle with second.

Pal Varhaug edged championship leader Kimiya Sato out of the top three, but the Japanese driver extended his championship lead regardless.?Markus Pommer and Vittorio Ghirelli finished fifth and sixth respectively, while von Grunigen took seventh after a poor start.

Troublesome races for both Andrea Roda and Tamas Pal Kiss, only ending up in eighth and ninth. The top ten was completed by Francesco Dracone.

Race results

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