The twelfth race of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season produced the maiden victory for Nikita Troitckii (Carlin). Guanyu Zhou (PREMA Theodore Racing) and Jehan Daruvala (Carlin) came second and third at the 4.307 kilometres long Circuit Zandvoort. Rookie driver Marcus Armstrong (PREMA Theodore Racing), who finished 16th in the race, remains in the lead of the drivers’ standings.
“We did all we could today, we finished P16 starting from P23,” commented Armstrong. “The race was actually quite enjoyable considering that it was always going to be difficult to get into the points.
“We just had fun and raced, fighting with other drivers. As always, the car felt really strong and we could make progress quite easily. In the end it has been a positive weekend. We kept the championship lead and will continue fighting.”
PREMA Theodore Racing delivered another podium finish at Zandvoort to cap an overwhelmingly positive FIA Formula 3 Championship event at the Dutch venue. After a complicated qualifying 2 session, the team lined-up for the third and final race of the weekend with a fourth place on the grid as its best starting position with Guanyu Zhou. The Chinese driver was the most consistent scorer of the meeting and put up an amazing performance ending up in P2 to secure his third podium finish of the weekend.
Despite Zhou was the only Prema driver to take points, the team has plenty to celebrate as it leaves the famed circuit with a 1-2-3 lead in the driver championship: Marcus Armstrong, who went from 22nd on the grid to 16th at the end, is still on top, in front of team-mates Zhou and Ralf Aron.
The Estonian Aron, who delivered two wins yesterday in race 1 and 2, finished in P14, right behind Mick Schumacher. Starting from P12, Russian Robert Shwartzman was in the hunt for the points zone when the interruptions came and had to settle for 11th.
Armstrong’s rival heading into the round, Daniel Ticktum (Motopark) moved up into the lead from pole position, but the Brit had jumped the start. Behind him, Nikita Troitckii and Guanyu Zhou battled for second with the Russian having the upper hand. After Ben Hingeley (Hitech Bullfrog GP) retired in the gravel trap, the safety car came out. Soon after the restart, Ticktum was given a drive-through penalty for his jump start, he went on to park his car in the pit lane one lap later. He has now dropped to fourth overall.
The next race weekend will take place in a fortnight at the legendary Belgian Formula 1 track of Spa-Francorchamps.
Points (Top 5)
1 Armstrong 131
2 Zhou 130
3 Aron 126.5
4 Ticktum 118
5 Ahmed 88
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