Maiden Victory for Dennis in Pau

Prema Powerteam’s Jake Dennis took his first ever win in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in Race 1 at Pau. Dennis held off Giovinazzi and Leclerc for the lead, making it 7 out of 7 podiums for the Italian driver and 6 for the Monegasque.

From pole the Brit was able to keep his lead ahead of the rapid starting Jagonya Ayam with Carlin machine of Giovinazzi, who stormed past Maximillian Gunther and Charles Leclerc into second position. Alexander Albon passed fellow rookie Callum Illot for P5, with Maisano and Maini switching places to put the French driver into the points.

It was a relatively clean first lap, the only incident being the Mucke Motorsport of Ferrucci colliding with the wall. The leading three instantly began pulling out a gap over the rest of the field, barely over a second separating them. Slightly further down the field, Van Amersfoort’s Alessio Lorandi, having by far his best race of the season, fought closely with Illot over P6, a battle which lasted for the majority of the race.

An over opportunistic move from Fabian Schiller driving into Sam McLeod ended the German driver’s race and damaged the Brit’s nose, which needed to be changed but ultimately led to retirement in the closing laps for McLeod.

In his efforts to move further up the points Carlin’s George Russell fought closely with Mikkel Jensen, but failing to make the move stick. Close behind them Maisano and Stroll battled over the final point, both drivers hoping to profit from any mistakes made from the battle ahead of them.

With Leclerc setting the fastest lap of the race and Rosenqvist fighting Menezes for P13, Dorian Boccolacci came to a halt at the side of the track, bringing out the safety car. There was clearly some confusion from the drivers, as Rosenqvist was past Menezes, however replays showed that the manoeuvre had been executed under yellow flag conditions, consequently the Swede had to give the place back.

At the restart Dennis kept his lead and the gap to Giovinazzi, who had Leclerc hot on his heels. Alexander Albon attempted to pass Gunther for 4^th, however it wasn’t meant to be and the German rookie maintained his position.

Just as Leclerc was closing right up on Giovinazzi’s tail, the Mucke car of Michele Beretta locked up and collided with the barrier at Pont Oscar, bringing the safety car back out again. Dennis once again managed a perfect restart, albeit unable to drop the Italian and Monegasque as he’d have hoped.

Damage for Gustav Malja brought the Swede into the pits and ended his race. A tap for Alessio Lorandi almost ended badly with the Italian losing his back end and nearly acquainting himself with the barriers, but he kept his cool and made it into 6^th; Callum Illot the other driver in the incident dropping to 10^th and into a battle with Lance Stroll.

Another attempted pass from George Russell on Jensen allowed Stroll and company to catch right up to the back of them, all of them jostling for the final points positions.

Matt Solomon fell to the back of the field after going over the kerbs a bit too enthusiastically and getting himself into a spin, but kept it going to finish.

Back at the front Leclerc was catching Giovinazzi in the race that was now down to the 35 minute time limit, Leclerc being the only driver lapping in the 1:10s.

Giovinazzi held onto second place though, keeping his record of a podium in every race of the season so far, keeping Leclerc behind him in both the race and drivers’ standings. It was Jake Dennis who took the chequered flag, following up his maiden pole with his maiden victory around the historic streets of Pau.

(For full results see: http://www.fiaf3europe.com/en/results/2015/pau/race-1-357.html)

Race 2 begins at 15:45 local time, with Dennis on pole once more.