Felix Rosenqvist has won the Formula 3 European Championship after a chaotic final race of the penultimate round of the season at the Nurburgring.

The Swede continued his domination of the weekend, signing off with a haul of all three pole positions and all three race wins in his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes.

The thin hopes of Antonio Giovinazzi of taking the title battle to the final round at Hockenheim disappeared at the first corner.

The Italian, along with Lance Stroll and Jake Dennis, ran almost three-abreast into the first corner, only for fifth-on-the-grid Mikkel Jensen to dive down the inside, clipping Stroll and collecting Giovinazzi’s car.

While Jensen pulled off at the following corner, Giovinazzi visited the pits for repairs to rejoin almost one lap down.

The first of four safety-car interventions allowed him to catch up the pack, and a combination of overtaking and daft midfield accidents promoted the Carlin driver to 13th at the flag.

With Van Amersfoort Racing’s title contender Charles Leclerc finishing fifth behind a Prema 1-2-3-4 of Rosenqvist, Ferrari protege Stroll, Nick Cassidy and Dennis, that meant Rosenqvist was champion.

“The safety car was a bit relieving – I could just cruise around and enjoy myself with my team-mates in my mirror,” said Rosenqvist.

“I knew with my restart procedure I was quite safe – I was just thinking of taking it to the finish because I knew Antonio was out already.”

The race never really got into a groove, but there were some good battles in the lower reaches of the top 10.

Behind Motopark’s Markus Pommer in sixth place, Mucke Motorsport driver Santino Ferrucci triumphed in a scrap with Carlin’s Red Bull junior Callum Ilott for seventh, while Sergio Sette Camara repassed George Russell on the final one-lap sprint to the finish, after Russell had earlier pulled off an outstanding pass on the Brazilian around the outside of Turns 2 and 3.

The first safety car came when Nicolas Pohler outbraked Peter Li into the short-circuit hairpin, but clattered into Alessio Lorandi, Pohler’s car getting stranded on the outside of the track.

The second appeared after Sam MacLeod spun exiting the Mercedes Arena and was smacked into by the unsighted Matt Rao. The third occurred when Dorian Boccolacci punted Ryan Tveter at Turn 1, Boccolacci getting stuck on the outside.

And the final came when Lorandi – who served a five-place grid penalty for punting Nabil Jeffri out in race two – tangled with Tatiana Calderon at the final corner.

Meanwhile, Andy Chang was banned from participation for overtaking under the safety car in race two.

RACE THREE RESULT

Rosenqvist seals Euro F3 title as Cassidy secures another strong podium