Norisring F3: Stroll takes third straight win as Ilott takes out Eriksson

Although Stroll led the early laps of the race, he was never able to pull away from fellow front-row starter Joel Eriksson.

The Swede then made an impressive move on Lap 4 where, despite having to take the first two braking zones in the outside line, he forced his way through Stroll at the Scholler chicane.

The top two was closely followed by Nick Cassidy at that point but the Kiwi driver was soon demoted by Sergio Sette Camara and Ilott.

Ilott, who received a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change and was forced to start from 12th, continued his rapid charge by passing Sette Camara as well, the latter then exchanging positions with Cassidy on several occasions.

Ilott closed the gap on Eriksson and Stroll in no time, the trio separating themselves from the rest of the grid.

However, the Briton's impressive race soon came to an end after he took the first turn too deep and crashed into Eriksson.

Stroll inherited the lead as a result but, with the safety car coming on track, his lead on Camara, Kari, Guan Yu Zhou and Cassidy diminished.

While the Williams development driver had a good restart, Camara was passed by Kari and then crashed into teammate Zhou at Turn 4 after the Chinese driver also passed him.

The inevitable safety car stint was followed by Stroll comfortably leading the remaining five minutes to take his fourth win of the season.

Kari matched his best result in second with Cassidy passing George Russell for the final podium spot.

Aron emerged victorious in a late-race multi-car battle to secure fifth, ahead of Ben Barnicoat, Mikkel Jensen and Anthoine Hubert.

Pedro Piquet, who was hit by Harrison Newey on the second restart, and David Beckmann took the final point-scoring positions.

Maximilian Gunther was forced to pit with a loose front wing following a nudge on teammate Ralf Aron.

Another casualty of the hectic race was the Carlin of William Buller, who is replacing the injured Peter Li Zhi Cong.

Race results

Pos.	Driver	Team	Gap
1	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam
2	Niko Kari	Motopark	+1.064s
3	Nick Cassidy	Prema Powerteam	+2.258s
4	George Russell	Hitech	+2.926s
5	Ralf Aron	Prema Powerteam	+4.821s
6	Ben Barnicoat	Hitech	+6.233s
7	Mikkel Jensen	Mucke Motorsport	+7.401s
8	Anthoine Hubert	Van Amersfoort Racing	+7.883s
9	Pedro Piquet	Van Amersfoort Racing	+8.737s
10	David Beckmann	Mucke Motorsport	+13.285s
11	Nikita Mazepin	Hitech	+13.720s
12	Alessio Lorandi	Carlin	+13.881s
13	Ryan Tveter	Carlin	+13.992s
DNF	Joel Eriksson	Motopark
DNF	Guan Yu Zhou	Motopark
DNF	Callum Ilott	Van Amersfoort Racing
DNF	Maximilian Gunther	Prema Powerteam
DNF	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark
DNF	Harrison Newey	Van Amersfoort Racing
DNF	William Buller	Carlin