Günther holds on to narrow victory

Maximilian Günther held off a determined Nick Cassidy at the final corner to take the chequered flag in Race 3 at Paul Ricard after the Prema teammates made contact at the final corner. Joel Eriksson completed a stellar weekend to take his first main F3 podium and rookie win in a relatively incident free race.

All of the Prema drivers had a good start, allowing Günther to maintain his lead from pole with Cassidy waiting in the wings, Stroll and Aron not far behind in the middle of the top 10. George Russell also had an excellent start from last place on the grid following an infringement in Qualifying 2 on Friday up to 14^th, while yesterday’s Race 2 winner Callum Ilott dropped to 15^th.  Once more there was contact at turn 1, today between Ben Barnicoat and Sérgio Sette Câmara, but both drivers were able to continue.

As the top 4 drivers pulled away from the rest of the pack, there were some epic battles for the lower points, as Aron ran wide allowing Eriksson to pop through, and Alessio Lorandi trying to keep a storming Anthoine Hubert behind him – but the Frenchman proved launched a perfect attack up the inside of the Carlin driver to move up a place. For the podium positions closer to the front, a daring lunge up the inside from seemingly nowhere came from Eriksson on Jensen, promoting the super Swede to 3^rd where he was to remain for the rest of the race.

In the midfield the action was far from being over, with battles between Stroll, Aron, Newey and Jensen who were quickly joined by Hubert. George Russell after his wonderful start was forced to pit for front wing repairs, as was Sette Câmara and Ryan Tveter. The only retiree of the race was Pedro Piquet a few laps in.

The inter-team drama began when Hubert went for a daring move on Van Amersfoort teammate Harrison Newey, with the latter being spun around and demoted from the top 10 and off the rookie podium. The battle most eyes were on was that of Cassidy and Günther on the final lap. It looked like the Kiwi would have to settle for another 2^nd place finish (his third of the weekend) unless he could whip up a daring and exceedingly immaculate overtake in the final few corners. And that is exactly what Cassidy tried, firing his Prema up the inside of Günther’s into the final corner. Unfortunately for the reigning Japanese F3 champion, the young German kept his cool, letting his car run wide and keeping his foot stuck in to pip Cassidy to the line, achieving his second Formula 3 win. Joining the Prema duo on the podium was Joel Eriksson, who himself topped the rookie podium followed by Hubert and Aron.

Race 3 results