Armstrong retains third in Euro Formula 3

Christchurch racer Marcus Armstrong has finished fourth in the wet-but-drying opening race of the weekend at the Red Bull Ring (Spielberg) in Austria and retains his third overall for the championship.

Prema team-mate Mick Schumacher, who took the points lead with victory in Saturday's race, has also headed the qualifying timesheets set three laps quicker than anyone else's best in the second and third qualifying sessions

But the opposition, which again came from his Prema Powerteam stablemates, was closer this time, with Ferrari proteges Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman each taking a front-row starting slot for Sunday - Armstrong's best lap was just 0.087 seconds adrift of Schumacher's.

The Prema drivers are in the process of delivering a teams’ championship lockout to Prema, which now has 798.5 points over Motopark’s 655.

Pre-weekend series leader Dan Ticktum was the big loser at the end, the Motopark-run Red Bull Junior now second in the championship, well behind Schumacher and vulnerable to attack from Armstrong. He qualified P8 and P7 for the Sunday races.

After today’s two races the championship takes a short break, resuming for the final round at Hockenheim October 13-14.