Antonio Giovinazzi maintained his record of finishing on the podium in every race so far this season, after a sealing a third place at Hockenheim today. The Jagonya Ayam with Carlin driver climbed from fifth on the grid to take third in the final stages of today’s FIA Formula 3 European Championship race. Team mate Gustavo Menezes also made up positions during the race, taking seventh at the chequered flag to add to his points finish yesterday. There was bad luck for Ryan Tveter though, the young American was struck down by a misfire and failed to finish the race.
With dry conditions greeting the drivers this morning as opposed to yesterday’s wet race, today’s race two was a less eventful affair with no safety car periods required. From fifth on the grid, Giovinazzi was immediately behind team mate Callum Ilot in the sister Carlin machine and passed the young Red Bull Junior at the hairpin on lap one. From then on, Giovinazzi found himself in a battle with Maximilian Gunther, putting the Mucke driver under pressure for much of the race. Despite a slight moment at turn one which lost the Italian a chunk of time, Giovinazzi took the final podium spot on lap 18 going into the hairpin.
Menezes meanwhile also made it into the points, the American started from 11th on the grid, but had already made it up to 8th place at the end of lap one, despite an accident at the hairpin that could have ended in disaster for the Jagonya Ayam driver. Running in a strong eighth place for the duration of the race, Menezes benefitted in the final stages when Marcus Pommer seemed to lose power almost without sight of the chequered flag, allowing Menezes to sweep home to seventh.
It was a race of no luck for Tveter, who found himself victim of a mechanical issue, being forced into the pit lane in the early stages with a misfire. The team and engine specialists spent several minutes trying to rectify the issue in an attempt to get Tveter back on track to test, but it proved not possible to fix in the pit lane. After showing good pace in qualifying yesterday, Tveter will be aiming to bounce back in race three tomorrow.
Speaking about another podium place, Giovinazzi said, “It was a tough race from fifth, but I had a good start and managed to overtake Callum on the first lap. I tried to overtake Gunther but it was hard and then I made a big mistake at the first corner which I think cost me about three seconds. After that I started catching him again and clearly had the pace. I had a good exit from turn two and got a tow into the straight and was able to pass him at the hairpin. The car was really good again so thanks to the team. We see what we can do tomorrow.”
Also in the points, Menezes added, “It wasn’t a bad race considering I recovered from 11th to get some solid points. I had a really good start and jumped the row ahead of me. Unfortunately for them, one of the cars ahead of me had to start from the pit lane to I already had made up three positions before turn one. The hairpin was a bit messy; another driver made contact with me which threw me off a bit so from then it was a bit of a recovery. We tried something new to the car which I wanted to try and that didn’t necessarily help me, but managed to drive home to seventh to take some solid points.”
The final race of the weekend will take place at 17.40 local time tomorrow.
-Ends-
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