Joel did what he had to do in the final race of the FIA F3 European Championship season, finishing second to Maximilian Günther to seal silver in the overall standings.
Joel went into the race with pressure on his shoulders, knowing he had to finish at least third in case of a Günther victory in order to defend his runner-up championship slot.
With Günther starting on pole and Joel in P5, odds were it was going to be close, although Joel immediately managed to clear the slow-starting Callum Ilott and snatch fourth at the first corner.
He then made the crucial move for third on Jake Hughes at Spitzkehre on the second lap, and went on to take second from Günther’s Prema Powerteam colleague Guan Yu Zhou at the Mercedes Arena on the following tour.
From there, it was a relatively straightforward affair, with Günther out in front and Joel a similarly comfortable second throughout the remainder of the race.
While Günther held on to victory, Joel’s second place was enough to hand him the same coveted position in the championship standings, landing the 2017 FIA F3 European Championship silver medal in Sweden to a sigh of relief.
With the season now completed, Joel can look back at a year of much success, including seven race wins, 14 podium finishes, five pole positions and four fastest laps.
Final championship standings (top five)
1: Lando Norris (GBR), 441 p.
2: Joel Eriksson (SWE), 388 p.
3: Maximilian Günther (GER), 383 p.
4: Callum Ilott (GBR), 344 p.
5: Jake Hughes (GBR), 207 p.
Comment, Joel:
“I’m really pleased to get second place – that was the target heading into this race. I saw that Maxi (Günther) got a really good start, and by then I knew I had to attack hard. I got past Hughes a bit quicker than yesterday, thankfully, and then overtook Zhou on the next lap. After that, I just controlled my position, knowing it was enough. We’ve been the top scorers over the last two rounds and I think we can be happy with how we end the season.”
RESULTS – Race 3
