A lights-to-flag victory for Tom Blomqvist

18.10.14
With his sixth victory of the season in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, Tom Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) moved up to second place in the drivers’ standings.

At the 4.574 kilometres long Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, he won from Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) and Lucas Auer (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport). Esteban Ocon (Prema Powerteam), who had already secured the FIA Formula 3 European Championship title at Imola, finished fourth in the penultimate race of the season ahead of Max Verstappen (Van Amersfoort Racing).

Tom Blomqvist took advantage his pole position and shot into the lead from Lucas Auer and Antonio Giovinazzi. Antonio Fuoco (Prema Powerteam) was punted into a spin by Sean Gelael (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin) in the hairpin in the first lap and dropped back to the rear of the field. Gelael had to pit but rejoined. On lap two, Max Verstappen was overtaken by Tatiana Calderón (Jo Zeller Racing), the only lady driver in the field, in the battle for seventh. The Dutchman fought back soon afterwards and overtook both Calderón and Felix Rosenqvist (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport) to claim sixth place.  

A few minutes later, Michele Beretta (Eurointernational) lost the rear wing of his car. To enable the marshals to remove wing debris from the track, the clerk of the course deployed the safety car. At the restart, Tom Blomqvist remained in the lead while Lucas Auer and Antonio Giovinazzi also held on to their positions. The order behind changed on lap 16 as Giovinazzi overtook Lucas Auer to claim back second place. While Blomqvist managed to open up a lead and Giovinazzi also built up a slight advantage over Auer towards the end of the race, the Austrian had to work to keep Esteban Ocon at bay until the finish.   

The race was red-flagged just before the end following a collision between Antonio Fuoco and Jake Dennis (Carlin). Tom Blomqvist won from Antonio Giovinazzi, Lucas Auer, Esteban Ocon and Max Verstappen. Felix Rosenqvist and Roy Nissany (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport), two drivers in the kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport team finished in sixth and seventh place ahead of Tatiana Calderón, Gustavo Menezes (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Dennis van de Laar (Prema Powerteam).

Tom Blomqvist (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin): “Track conditions changed massively from the first to the second race, which was perhaps due to the rubber from the tyres of the DTM cars. Overall, this race wasn’t easy, but it went well nevertheless. After the start, I managed to open up a gap and I controlled the race. For me, it was mainly about not making any mistakes.”

Antonio Giovinazzi (Jagonya Ayam with Carlin): “I had a good start, but Lucas made an even better one. Thus, I lost second place going into the first corner, but I was able to take it back during the race. I am very happy with my second place and victory for my team-mate Tom Blomqvist.”

Lucas Auer (kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport): “My start was mega. Unfortunately, my car got stuck in third gear once again during the race, so that it was relatively easy for Antonio to overtake me. We already had this problem in the first race and now we have to solve it.”