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Thomas Jager holds on to maiden race win at Nurburgring

by Valentin Khorounzhiy

Photo: formel3.de

Performance Racing’s Thomas Jager managed to keep the Lotus trio at bay to secure his first victory in German F3 in a thrilling race two of the Nurburgring round.

It was his namesake Thomas Amweg who started from reverse-grid pole, after taking eighth in race one – the win in the Trophy class. However, Jager made a staggering start from third, clearing both Amweg and Matteo Cairoli into turn one to take the lead.

Whilst Jager was building up a gap, Cairoli had to defend from the charging Lotus trio, as he was eventually passed by Artem Markelov for P2.

However, Markelov would not end up as the highest-placed Lotus in the classification, as championship leader Marvin Kirchhofer, after a rather bad start, drove a phenomenal race to finish second.

The German first overtook two cars into one corner, clearing both Performance driver John Bryant-Meisner and teammate Emil Bernstorff, before almost immediately overtaking Cairoli as well. He then caught up with Markelov and the duo found themselves involved in a lengthy battle, while, simultaneously, reeling in a slower Jager.

Eventually, after an unsuccessful attempt by Markelov to take the lead of the race, Kirchhofer got the jump on him, but, by that point, Jager already managed to pull away by a second, which was enough for him to ensure his first win in the series.

While Kirchhofer finished second, Markelov had to defend from another Lotus driver Bernstorff as the Briton managed to catch up to the race leaders due to their intense fight. The Russian managed to hold on to the podium, with Bernstorff crossing the line in fourth.

Cairoli enjoyed a very good race to finish fifth, ahead of a rather struggling Bryant-Meisner. Nabil Jeffri and Gustavo Menezes rounded out the points.

In the Trophy class, Sebastian Balthasar narrowly beat out Amweg.

Race results
Pos. Driver Cl. Team Time/Gap
1 Thomas Jager C Performance Racing 15 laps
2 Marvin Kirchhofer C Lotus +0.571
3 Artem Markelov C Lotus +3.895
4 Emil Bernstorff C Lotus +4.460
5 Matteo Cairoli C ADM Motorsport +7.871
6 John Bryant-Meisner C Performance Racing +9.048
7 Nabil Jeffri C EuroInternational +14.152
8 Gustavo Menezes C Van Amersfoort +15.562
9 Sebastian Balthasar T GU-Racing +22.171
10 Thomas Amweg T CR Racing Team +23.724
11 Jordi Weckx C Van Amersfoort +31.410
12 Freddy Killensberger T GU-Racing +33.424
13 Maximilian Hackl T Franz Woss Racing +45.517
14 Andreas Germann T CR Racing Team +1:24.290
15 Luca Iannaccone C ADM Motorsport +1:25.362
16 Sheban Siddiqi C Lotus +1 lap
17 Christian Zeller T CR Racing Team +1 lap