Euro Series youngsters provide a lot of action and excitement

The first four races of the 2010 Formula 3 Euro Series are now behind us and it already becomes clear that this year is thrilling as hardly ever before. Four different young drivers notched up a winner's trophy and eleven drivers have already scored points. On top of the points' standings, Edoardo Mortara (Signature) and Marco Wittmann (Signature) are head to head, but other drivers are within striking distance.

Edoardo Mortara (I, Signature, Dallara F308 Volkswagen) Credit: Euro F3 Series

In the four rounds held so far, the drivers showed thrilling racing with numerous overtaking manoeuvres and excitement till the end. Edoardo Mortara, Alexander Sims (ART Grand Prix), Marco Wittmann and Roberto Merhi (Mücke Motorsport) each scored one race win. Mortara, Wittmann and Merhi were the only drivers who succeeded in scoring points in every round.

The season opener at Le Castellet already brought the first surprise in qualifying: not one of the strong stalwarts in the field, but Euro Series rookie Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam) claimed pole position. And by ending up second in qualifying at Hockenheim a fortnight later, the Spaniard confirmed that this was by no means a one-time surprise. At Hockenheim, he was only 0.044 seconds slower than Marco Wittmann.

Juncadella, who graduated into the world's toughest junior race series from the ranks of the Formula BMW Europe, is currently leading in the rookie standings. He has scored almost twice as many points as Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (Motopark Academy), who is currently runner-up in the classification of the series' rookies.

The battle between the engine manufacturers is thrilling, too. Currently, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are tied at two victories each. Mortara and Wittmann claimed wins for Volkswagen, Sims and Merhi for Mercedes. And the pole positions are also equally divided: at Le Castellet, Juncadella set the fastest time in qualifying for Mercedes-Benz while Wittmann's fastest lap in qualifying at Hockenheim caused delight for Volkswagen.

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