EUROPEAN Formula 3 racer Alex Lynn was able to draw the positives from a trying weekend at Hockenheim as he moved up to third in the championship standings.

Round three of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship saw the world’s best up-and-coming drivers arrive in Germany to renew rivalries once again – with 19-year-old Lynn chasing his first victory of the season.

But despite showing glimpses of strong pace throughout the weekend, the Dunmow racer was left rueing missed opportunities to further bolster his title-winning aspirations.

He picked up a seventh and sixth in races two and three, respectively, but could only manage 15th in the opening event after a spin dropped him down to 27th and out of contention.

“That wasn’t my finest hour,” Lynn said of his first-lap incident. “It’s a shame because the pace was really strong.

“To be honest, I’m really disappointed because had I hooked up my best lap in qualifying I could have been on pole for race one, and would have been second in race two if I hadn’t been penalised for exceeding track limits.

“For the second qualifying session the team had under-fuelled the car because we’d done too many laps in the first session and you can’t refuel in between – probably the first mistake they have made all year – so that messed us up, too.”

It meant Lynn started the three races from second, seventh and sixth on the grid.

Meanwhile, the Prema Powerteam racer’s team-mate and championship leader, Raffaele Marciello, who was runner-up in the series last year, collected two more victories and a fourth place to bring his win tally to five for the season.

Asked whether there was a danger the Italian’s commanding lead in the championship could soon become insurmountable if luck did not start going Lynn’s way soon, he told the Broadcast: “If we don’t start getting it together then he will run away with it.

“Someone once told me a great saying which was that no-one is better than you, they are just doing a better job. I fully believe that.

“Do I think he’s faster than me and driving better than me? No. But is he doing a better job at the moment? Yes he is, so I’ve got to do more with my part of the team.”

Looking ahead to the next round at Brands Hatch on May 18, Lynn said his goal was three podiums out of three, before adding he was certain his first victory of the season was not far away.

The Dunmow racer is 95 points behind Marciello in the championship and 23.5 adrift of second-placed Swede Felix Rosenqvist.