First year FIA Formula 3 European Championship racer Antonio Giovinazzi delivered his best set of results of the season on home soil at Vallelunga in Italy over the weekend, 12th/13th October, with seventh position in round 26 the highlight for the Double R Racing team.Beginning the event with his most consistent qualifying performance of the campaign so far, the Dallara-Mercedes driver lapped within just 0.5 seconds of pole position in the opening session to secure a top 10 start for round 25.Quickly moving into ninth place on the first lap, following a retirement for Felix Serralles, Giovinazzi remained close behind the lead group for the entire 24 lap duration. With overtaking at a premium, the Italian had to be satisfied to bring his car home in ninth position for his fifth score of the season.Lining-up a similarly competitive 11th on the grid for round 26, the Double R ace moved into eighth on lap one after problems for three rivals and after a brief Safety Car period he continued to hold position. Getting ahead of Sven Muller on lap four, Giovinazzi remained in seventh to the finish and took the flag a mere 0.6 seconds outside the top six.Race three, round 27, was to be a much greater challenge for Giovinazzi with the 19-year-old having to start the encounter from 21st on the grid. Unruffled by the quest facing him, the F3 rookie made rapid progress and by lap seven he had broken into the top 15. Rising as high as 13th place by lap 10, Giovinazzi remained there to the flag on lap 21 to cap an incredibly competitive weekend.“Antonio just gets better and better as the season goes on”, said Double R team boss Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, “Before the weekend we felt confident he could potentially challenge for the top six, so to come away with a seventh place and another points score as well is fantastic. For the first time this season in the European championship qualifying went well, and the fruits of that are in the results.”Colombian team-mate Tatiana Calderón was unfortunate to miss out on a potential top 15 result in the second of the weekend’s races, eventually finishing in 20th place. Starting the encounter in 19th position, the sole female competitor on the grid made good early progress and profited from the odd incident to rise into 14th place.Edged back to 15th position on lap nine, just before a second Safety Car period, Calderón’s hopes unraveled on lap 16 when she slipped back to 21st position behind team-mate Sean Gelael. On the final lap, though, the South American managed to get back ahead of the Indonesian 16-year-old for 20th place. Gelael had run in the top 15 himself early on but lost a clutch of places on lap nine.In the first race Calderón started ahead of Gelael, the pair qualifying in 22nd and 25th positions respectively, and the former put together a strong first lap to climb her way through into 19th place before dropping to 20th on lap four where she remained to the finish. Unfortunately for Gelael, he was forced to retire on lap two.During round 27, the final race of the weekend, Gelael’s frustrating weekend concluded with a lap one retirement. Calderón, meanwhile, ran in the top 20 until lap eight but then moved back up from 21st position on lap 12 when Lucas Auer pitted.“It was a bit of a mixed weekend for Tatiana and Sean”, said Hieatt, “Unfortunately Sean had quite a bit of bad luck, two non-finishes wasn’t the plan at all as getting as much track time as possible is the main aim in his rookie year. Tatiana had a good opportunity in race two to try and finish in the top 15, it wasn’t to be in the end but the pace has been pretty strong this weekend which is pleasing.”Hockenheim in Germany will host the final three races of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship season next weekend, 19th/20th October.
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