Merhi dominates race three at Spa
Date published : 30 Jul 2011 - 12:13:15
Roberto Merhi completed an impressive double by dominating the 40-minute British Formula 3 feature race at Spa.In similar fashion to his race one triumph, the Spaniard converted pole position into an immediate lead, before drawing inexorably away from the field.The Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes driver pulled away at over a second a lap to beat Euro Series and FIA F3 International Trophy rival Marco Wittmann (Signature) by just under 24 seconds after 17 laps of the Belgian Grand Prix circuit.The German was chased home by top British runner Will Buller. The Fortec driver started fifth and lost out to Signature's Laurens Vanthoor initially, but gained a place back when the Belgian's team-mate Carlos Munoz spun.Buller then fought back impressively to overhaul Double R's Marko Asmer and Vanthoor to fill the overall podium.Home hero Vanthoor tracked Buller home in fourth, while front row starter Asmer eventually wound up sixth after being further demoted by Merhi's Prema team-mate Raffaele Marciello.Behind the Italian F3 racer, British F3 championship leader Felipe Nasr won a thrilling five-car battle for seventh.Carlin team-mate Jack Harvey held the place early on, but Nasr fought his way up from 18th on the grid and swapped places with the Racing Steps Foundation-backed rookie, before finally getting the better of him on the penultimate lap.Kevin Magnussen (up from 15th on the grid) swept around the outside of Harvey at the same moment on the approach to Les Combes and the Briton lost a further place to team-mate Carlos Huertas on the final lap.Fortec's Lucas Foresti had challenged Harvey for seventh in the early stages, but trailed home 11th after getting jumped by Nasr, Magnussen (who is under investigation by officials for corner-cutting) and Huertas in the second half of the race.Results - 17 laps:Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap 1. Roberto Merhi Prema Dallara-Merc 38m06.645s 2. Marco Wittmann Signature Dallara-VW + 23.298s 3. Will Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc + 25.355s 4. Laurens Vanthoor Signature Dallara-VW + 27.203s 5. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc + 28.451s 6. Marko Asmer Double R Dallara-Merc + 32.708s 7. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW + 34.110s 8. Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-VW + 35.399s 9. Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-VW + 36.663s10. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW + 38.405s11. Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Merc + 38.881s12. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW + 39.279s13. Daniel Abt Signature Dallara-VW + 47.520s14. Rupert Svendsen-Cook Carlin Dallara-VW + 50.638s15. Scott Pye Double R Dallara-Merc + 53.164s16. Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-VW + 57.237s17. Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Merc + 1m02.012s18. Bart Hylkema T-Sport Dallara-VW + 1m11.807s19. Fahmi Ilyas Fortec Dallara-Merc + 1m12.811s20. Menasheh Idafar T-Sport Dallara-VW + 1m23.129s21. Yann Cunha T-Sport Dallara-VW + 1m26.350s22. Kotaro Sakurai Hitech Dallara-Mugen + 1m42.373s23. Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc + 1 lapRetirements: Carlos Munoz Signature Dallara-VW 10 laps Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc 6 laps Pipo Derani Double R Dallara-Merc 5 laps Hannes van Asseldonk Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1 lap Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 0 laps
