Wittmann charges to race two win

Date published : 02 Jul 2011 - 14:46:42

Marco Wittmann charged from sixth on the grid and then survived a late attack from Roberto Merhi to win the second F3 Euro Series race of the weekend at the Norisring.Merhi and Wittmann worked their way from the third row of the grid to the top two places in the opening two laps, with the Spaniard initially leading the way as they fought each other fiercely at the front.However, Wittmann was handed the lead on lap eight when Merhi went wide at Turn 1 under braking.The Signature driver then seemed to have the race under control, edging his lead up to one second with four laps to go.But Merhi set about making that ground back in the closing laps, and he was close enough to try a lunge into the final corner at the end. It did not work however, and the Prema driver did well to prevent a collision and settle for second.Behind them, Daniel Abt (Signature) crossed the line third after a long battle with race one winner Nigel Melker. Their scrap came to an end when Abt hit Melker from behind on the penultimate lap in the middle of Turn 1, spinning the Mucke driver around.Abt then held off Daniel Juncadella (Prema) to the line, but he was instantly given a 30-second penalty by the stewards, dropping him to 10th.That handed third to Juncadella, while lap one leader Jimmy Eriksson, Felix Rosenqvist and Gianmarco Raimondo completed the points.Results - 24 laps:Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Marco Wittmann Signature Dallara-VW 19m44.437s 2. Roberto Merhi Prema Dallara-Merc + 0.941s 3. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc + 9.908s 4. Jimmy Eriksson Motopark Dallara-VW + 14.174s 5. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc + 17.367s 6. Gianmarco Raimondo Prema Dallara-VW + 18.322s 7. Alon Day HS Dallara-VW + 18.844s 8. Laurens Vanthoor Signature Dallara-VW + 22.794s 9. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc + 24.362s10. Daniel Abt Signature Dallara-VW + 39.528s11. Nigel Melker Mucke Dallara-Merc + 1 lapRetirements: Carlos Munoz Signature Dallara-VW 4 laps Kuba Giermaziak Star Dallara-VW 4 laps Kimiya Sato Motopark Dallara-VW 0 laps