Home Z - Archive seriesFIA European F3 Jake Dennis stays out front to take maiden F3 win in first Pau race

Jake Dennis stays out front to take maiden F3 win in first Pau race

by Peter Allen
Jake Dennis

Photo: FIA F3 European Championship

Jake Dennis led from start to finish to record his maiden FIA F3 European Championship win in race one on the streets of Pau.

Starting from the first of three pole positions he claimed in qualifying on Friday, Dennis kept the lead off the start while Antonio Giovinazzi got a good launch from fourth to take second away from Charles Leclerc.

The front three ran nose-to-tail throughout the race, which saw two back-to-back safety car periods, but Dennis was never really forced into defensive driving and took the chequered flag with a 0.680-second advantage.

Giovinazzi’s P2 keeps him in the championship ahead of Leclerc, who was half a second further back as the rookie took his sixth straight podium finish.

The top three pulled away from the rest in the first part of the race and then again after the safety cars, with Maximilian Gunther finished seven seconds behind the winner as he finished fourth for the third time in four races.

After passing Callum Ilott on lap one, Alex Albon spent the race on Gunther’s tail but had to settle for fifth.

There was contact at the hairpin on the second restart between Ilott and Alessio Lorandi – who were rivals in karting last year. While Ilott eventually fell to 11th, Lorandi took sixth while Mikkel Jensen survived race-long pressure from George Russell to finish seventh.

Prema team-mates Lance Stroll and Brandon Maisano completed the top ten. Maisano had cleared Stroll and Arjun Maini on the first lap but lost out to the Canadian in the one lap of racing inbetween the two safety cars.

The fourth Prema driver Felix Rosenqvist finished where he started in 13th, but only after re-passing Gustavo Menezes.

The safety car periods were triggered by incidents requiring the removal of Dorian Boccolacci and Michele Beretta‘s cars respectively.

11th-placed qualifier Pietro Fittipaldi was ruled out of the race by a hand injury sustained in the second qualifying session last evening, which had already made him a non-qualifier for races two and three.

Race results
Pos. Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Jake Dennis Prema Powerteam 27 laps in 35:54.103
2 Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin +0.680
3 Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing +1.196
4 Maximilian Gunther Mucke Motorsport +7.079
5 Alex Albon Signature +7.613
6 Alessio Lorandi Van Amersfoort Racing +9.833
7 Mikkel Jensen Mucke Motorsport +14.113
8 George Russell Carlin +14.695
9 Lance Stroll Prema Powerteam +15.122
10 Brandon Maisano Prema Powerteam +16.301
11 Callum Ilott Carlin +18.314
12 Arjun Maini Van Amersfoort Racing +18.654
13 Felix Rosenqvist Prema Powerteam +19.502
14 Sergio Sette Camara Motopark +22.087
15 Gustavo Menezes Carlin +23.334
16 Raoul Hyman West-Tec +25.821
17 Tatiana Calderon Carlin +26.092
18 Nabil Jeffri Motopark +29.970
19 Matt Rao Fortec Motorsports +31.549
20 Kang Ling Mucke Motorsport +32.069
21 Martin Cao Fortec Motorsports +34.272
22 Julio Moreno T-Sport +38.656
23 Markus Pommer Motopark +39.127
24 Ryan Tveter Carlin +39.912
25 Matt Solomon Double R Racing +42.321
Not classified
Sam MacLeod Motopark +3 laps
Gustav Malja Eurointernational +6 laps
Nicolas Pohler Double R Racing +10 laps
Michele Beretta Mucke Motorsport +13 laps
Dorian Boccolacci Signature +17 laps
Fabian Schiller West-Tec +22 laps
Santino Ferrucci Mucke Motorsport +27 laps