Dennis Hauger Extends F3 Title Lead With Dominant 2021 Dutch Race Three Victory

PREMA’s Dennis Hauger extended his title lead over Jack Doohan after taking a dominant victory at 2021 Dutch Race Three in Zandvoort, Netherlands.

Hauger led from lights out to the checkered flag unchallenged as he claimed a Grand Chelem of pole, led every lap, win and fastest lap.

Clement Novalak benefitted from a late collision between David Schumacher and Victor Martins at Hugenholtzboch on Lap 22, as the Frenchman finished second ahead of Aleksandr Smolyar who inherited third after Martins dropped to tenth after being handed a 10 second time penalty for causing the incident.

Jack Doohan recovered from a slow start to finish fourth ahead of Caio Collet, Logan Sargeant, Jak Crawford, Frederik Vesti and Arthur Leclerc who rounded out the top nine.

In the driver standings, Hauger increased his lead over Doohan to 43 points ahead of the final round, which will now take place in Sochi, Russia, from 24-26 September after ‘unavoidable’ logistical issues forced the cancellation of the USA round in late October.

Novalak meanwhile climbed to third after benefitting massively from Martins’ mistake both on track and in the championship standings, as Martins sits fourth on countback from Vesti as the pair sit on 117 points apiece.

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Hauger made a clean start to lead Schumacher and Martins as Doohan lost two positions in the opening three corners to Novalak and Smolyar who improved three positions on the start, as the top six ultimately settled in their positions for majority of the race.

Further back, Collet lost three positions at the start to fall behind Crawford and Sargeant to ninth, yet quickly recovered to eighth with a move on Sargeant at the start of Lap Two before pouncing on Crawford into Tarzanbocht on Lap 12 with Sargeant following through six laps later.

Martins’ race-long pursuit of Schumacher came to a head three laps from the finish as the Frenchman got an inside move into Hugenholtzboch wrong, drifting wide mid-corner and sent Schumacher spinning sideways into the barriers as Novalak benefitted from this incident to finish second.

Stewards consequently handed Martins a 10s time penalty which dropped him to tenth at the flag after finishing third on the road, as Smolyar inherited the final podium place ahead of Doohan as the Aussie faces a huge deficit to overturn in Sochi if he is to win the title..

Further back, Juan Manuel Correa was caught up in two separate incidents as he locked up into Tarzanbocht on Lap 20, sending Matteo Nannini wide into the gravel before he then shunted Tijmen Van Der Helm into the barriers at Hugenholtzboch on the final lap.