The FIA Formula 3 European Championship teams and drivers travel to Nuremberg in northern Bavaria (Germany) as the city’s 2.3-kilometre circuit, the Norisring, will stage the seventh, eighth and ninth races of the 2018 FIA F3 European Championship season.
Kiwi driver Marcus Armstrong and his PREMA Theodore Racing team are set for the third round on the fast temporary street course, famous venue for DTM touring cars. Heavy traffic and braking will be pivotal aspects for teams and drivers.
As the season kick-off was held in Pau, Southern France, this will be the second time this year that the F3 young-guns will have to demonstrate their skills at a street circuit.
The British rookie Enaam Ahmed (Hitech Bullfrog GP) wants to defend his championship lead, on his debut weekend at the Norisring, while the German drivers on the grid, Mick Schumacher (PREMA Theodore Racing), Keyvan Soori Andres (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Julian Hanses (ma-con), want to make use of their home advantage.
Chinese racer Guanyu Zhou will be the man on the move in Germany as he currently headlines the Prema pack with P2 in championship points. Supported by the Ferrari Driver Academy, he already scored one win this season at Pau. The other Pau winner, Ralf Aron, is looking to take his revenge after facing some struggles in the previous round at Hungaroring. Mick Schumacher will run in his native Germany for the first time this year. He is coming from a positive third place in Budapest.
Norisring is known to be quite tough on rookies. New Zealander Marcus Armstrong and Russian Robert Shwartzman, both part of the FDA program, are planning to maximize their learning and exit the weekend with the highest possible amount of points.
“It is great to be on-track at Norisring,” commented René Rosin – Prema Racing principal. It’s such a unique and challenging circuit. It is also really unforgiving so it’s critical to do everything right from the very beginning, both driving and engineering-wise.
“For the drivers, this will be the second street course in three races, so especially for rookies, it will be particularly tricky. Anyway, we got wins here last year and in 2016 so we know what it takes and we are looking forward to putting our experience to fruition.”
Points Table (Top 10)
1 Ahmed 83
2 Zhou 65
3 Ticktum 63
4 Fenestraz 51
5 Aron 50.5
6 Armstrong 43
7 Palou 39
8 Schumacher 37
9 Shvartzman 35
10 Daruvala 23.5
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