Tom Blomqvist has been declared the winner of the first Formula 3 European Championship race of the weekend at the Norisring after a raft of post-race penalties were applied.
Blomqvist, who finished eighth on the road, inherited victory ahead of Harry Tincknell (11th) and Andre Rudersdorf (14th).
Time penalties of 20 seconds, in lieu of drive-through penalties, were imposed to much of the field, from on-the-road winner Raffaele Marciello down, for improving sector times under yellow flags.
The field was twice closed up by safety cars, with the last portion of green-flag running to the finish amounting to just 14 laps – hence the time penalties having a big effect on the final result.
Those penalised include Marciello, Alex Lynn (third), Lucas Auer (fourth), Felix Serralles (fifth), Alexander Sims (sixth), Pipo Derani (seventh), Nick Cassidy (ninth), Jordan King (10th), Jann Mardenborough (12th), Roy Nissany (13th) and Michael Lewis (15th).
Felix Rosenqvist, second on the road, has not been penalised but at present is not included in the results as he was racing under appeal due to a fuel issue arising from post-qualifying scrutineering.
A clearly bemused Blomqvist said in the post-race main conference on the paddock stage: “I’m not sure if this is some kind of joke…This is a joke, no?
“There were quite a few yellow flags out. You can see they’ve been strict in the past. This can’t be real. I finished eighth…”
Results - 39 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Tom Blomqvist Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 35m49.810s
2. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW +3.551s
3. Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW +13.521s
4. Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Merc +14.925s
5. Raffaelle Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc +16.320s
6. Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Merc +17.423s
7. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc +17.498s
8 Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc +17.866s
9. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc +18.397s
10. Alexander Sims T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +18.936s
11. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc +19.811s
12. Nick Cassidy Eurointernational Dallara-Merc +22.559s
13. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW +22.744s
14. Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW +25.444s
15. Michela Cerruti Ferraris Dallara-Merc +28.621s
16. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc +28.783s
17. Michael Lewis Mucke Dallara-Merc +33.936s
18. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan +2 laps
Retirements:
Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc DQ*
Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc 34 laps
Sven Muller Ma-con Dallara-VW 34 laps
Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc 34 laps
Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW 28 laps
Tatiana Calderon Double R Dallara-Merc 15 laps
Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 12 laps
Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc 6 laps
Mitchell Gilbert 5 laps
Daniil Kvyat 1 lap
* Racing under appeal
