Lundqvist and Kjaergaard resume battle in Formula 3

Linus Lundqvust arrived at Snetterton with an 11 point lead over Nicolai Kjaergaard after the opening two rounds of the championship, with the latter’s retirement in race one at Rockingham giving the former the edge in a tight points battle.

Despite a victory from pole in race one at Snetterton, Kjaergaard would fall to 30 points behind the Double R Racing driver by the end of the weekend.

Kjaergaard put in a flawless performance in race one, dominating proceedings to finish almost five seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Lundqvist, having started second, defended the position from Kush Maini on the opening lap and tried to close the gap to the race leader, but fell behind Maini on the penultimate lap after attempting to take the lead.

Finishing third gave him an advantage over his championship rival for the reverse grid race, starting 15th compared to Kjaergaard’s 17th. But it was the Carlin man who got the better opening lap, finishing lap one seventh, while Lundqvist could only climb to 10th.

Kjaergaard made up another position the following lap but his charge was cut short when an incident took him and Fortec’s Tom Gamble out of the race.

Lundqvist continued to pick up places, and challenged Sasakorn Chaimongkol for the final podium position in the closing stages of the race. He eventually settled for fourth, but the result was enough to stretch his lead at the top of the championship standings.

The pair shared the front row again in race three, this time with Lundqvist on pole. Kjaergaard was immedietly challenging for the lead, almost pulling alongside Lundqvst at the first corner, but had to turn from attack to defence as Maini looked to take his second second-place of the weekend.

Kjaergaard eventually managed to shake the Lanan Racing driver and returned to pressuring Lundqvist, but the championship leader put up a strong defence. Lundqvist finished just 0.386s ahead of Kjaergaard to take his third win of the season.

Maini ending the weekend third in the championship standings. The Lanan Racing driver picked up his second podium of the weekend in race three, and was aided by the misfortune of other drivers in race two.

While his own race two was frustrating – he finished 14th after a puncture – he managed to take the chequered flag, unlike Gamble whom he overtook in the championship standings.

Manuel Maldonado picked up his second win of the season after starting from pole in the reverse grid race. He dropped to the back of the field after a problem at the end of race one, earning himself the best position on the grid for race two.

He managed to pull away from Arvin Esmaeili and Krishnaraaj Mahadik at the start of the race as the pair battled for P2, but Mahadik closed the gap towards the end of the race. The Double R Racing driver couldn’t challenge for the lead but kept Maldonado under pressure and finished 0.598s behind.

But Mahadik, having started eighth on the grid, earned three more points than Maldonado, taking extra points for the positions gained. He lies two points ahead of Maldonado in the championship standings, with the pair fifth and sixth overall.