Hauger gains upper hand in title battle as he wins F3’s race three at Zandvoort

Embed from Getty Images

Dennis Hauger claimed his fourth victory of the Formula 3 season as the Norweigan holds a 43-point advantage over closest championship rival Jack Doohan.

Clement Novalak and Aleksandr Smolyar joined the Norweigan on the podium after Victor Martins’ penalty dropped him from third to 10th.

Starting Grid

Embed from Getty Images

Dennis Hauger was the fastest in qualifying on Friday as he lines up on pole position with David Schumacher alongside the Norweigan on the front row.

Race two winner, Victor Martins starts from third, Jack Doohan in fourth, Clement Novalak in fifth, Caio Collet in sixth, Jak Crawford in seventh, Aleksandr Smolyar in eighth, Ayumu Iwasa in ninth, Charles Leclerc in 10th, Logan Sargeant in 11th and Amaury Cordeel in 12th.

As It Happened

Embed from Getty Images

It was a good getaway from the top three as Hauger remained in the lead. The Norweigan’s closest championship rival, Doohan dropped from fourth to sixth with Novalak and Smolyar making up a place.

Collet looked on fire in the opening laps as the Brazilian moved up to seventh past Sargeant and Crawford.

Two championship contenders, Doohan and Martins, looked to make up positions as they closed up to fifth place Smolyar and second place Schumacher respectively.

After Crawford fell out of DRS range, Collet capitalised and overtook the American for seventh position.

Further back, Juan Manuel Correa made a fantastic move around the outside of Tjimen van der Helm as the American moved up to 22nd.

Moving back to action inside the points, Crawford locked up and allowed his fellow compatriot Sargeant to get past and gain eighth.

Correa and Matteo Nannini collided at turn one which saw the Italian go into the gravel trap. The HWA driver was able to keep his engine going and rejoined the race at the back of the field in 30th.

The Virtual Safety Car was released as Schumacher and Martins came together after the Frenchman tried to gain second place. The German went into the wall at turn three and subsequently retired from the race.

Martins was hit with a slam dunk 10-second time penalty after the collision that saw Schumacher retire. Novalak was able to get ahead of his compatriot for second place, but it was Hauger that cruised to his fourth victory of the season.

Smolyar joined Hauger and Novalak on the podium after he finished third with championship contender Doohan crossing the line in fourth. Collet, Sargeant, Crawford, Vesti, Leclerc and Martins rounded out the top 10 as the Frenchman dropped from third to 10th due to his time penalty.

What’s Next?

Dennis Hauger holds a 43-point lead over Jack Doohan heading into the final round of the F3 season at Sochi. The Circuit of the Americas was due to be on the calendar but was switched by the Russian track after a rise in COVID cases.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt