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PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19th 2020, Vienna

Lukas Dunner and CryptoTower teammate Yifei Ye give each other a run for their money in Spa-Francorchamps. Their intense duel even leaves them without points in race two, after they make contact on the Kemmel straight. The overall title already written-off by Dunner - having missed two rounds in favour of FIA Formula 3 - his aim is to strengthen his leadership claim and win the maximum 108 points possible for the remaining races.

In race one, Lukas Dunner starts from pole position and has to let his teammate Ye pass using the slipstream on the long Kemmel straight. They keep fighting for many laps and Dunner very nearly passes Ye going into Les Combes but has to leave the track in order to not cause a collision, subsequently giving the position back to Ye. Dunner stays right on his teammate's heels, however he has to concede the win to Ye after his brakes start overheating and he takes P2.

Dunner starts into race two from pole position again. Teammate Ye manages to pass him right before a safety car phase, but Dunner takes it back right after said phase. They keep fighting until two laps before the checquered flag, when they get too close to each other, leading to Yifei Ye spinning on the grass and Dunner damaging his left rear tire. Both drop out of the points, Dunner takes P13.

Race three sees Dunner start from P2 behind his teammate after not being able to make use of the slipstream during qualifying - a considerable handicap on a highspeed track like Spa. Dunner manages to make the most out of the second starting position though, using the sliptstream to overtake Ye at the very beginning of the race. Cameron Das tries to squeeze past Ye as well, leading to them spinning off track. Dunner holds on to the lead and takes the checquered flag seven seconds clear of the second.

Rumors have it that the remaining two race weekends (Barcelona and Jarama) are being condensed into the upcoming race weekend in Barcelona. In that case, drivers would face four races in one weekend, as well as the respective free practice and qualifying runs. There are still 108 points up for grabs, Lukas Dunner is aiming for every last one of them.
Of the 270 points he has had the chance to win so far, he has won 202. His bottom line after ten races: five wins (50%), five pole positions (50%), four fastest race laps (40%) and a total of nine podium spots (90%).

The official schedule until further notice:

"Our performance was strong throughout the weekend, of course I would have wanted to deliver better results. My goal for the last races is to get all the points.” - Lukas Dunner

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5th 2020, Vienna

Young Austrian racer Lukas Dunner and his team CryptoTower defy opponents and weather in Mugello in Euroformula Open. After qualifying on pole and P4 respectively, he wins race one and gets P2 in race two.

Young Austrian racer Lukas Dunner makes good use of his time between EFO races of Monza and Mugello. He continues his workout plan during the week and works hard during the free practice sessions to get the setups right for any weather that should await him. This would prove useful later that weekend.

In the first qualifying session, the field is welcomed by a very wet Mugello track. Lukas Dunner finds his way around the track fast and without any mistake, thus taking pole position.
Race one sees the field start behind the safety car, due to heavy rain.Dunner dominates and stays in the lead until the checquered flag, which he sees more than two seconds sooner than the second. His teammate and toughest contestant for the overall win, Yifei Ye, only finishes fifth.

Qualifying two has the drivers wonder until the very last minute, what weather it's holding for them, whether it's going to be a wet or a dry one. It eventually turns out to be both. Dunner manages to set the fourth fastest time, which is somewhat behind his goal, which is pole.
For the second race the Austrian Dunner goes all-in on the full-dry setup, contrary to his opponents. Among those is, for this weekend, Ben Barnicoat, McLaren driver dispatched to help develop the Carlin car.
The race starts on a partially wet track. Dunner gains one position straight away and another one in the first few laps, driving right behind the leading Barnicoat. The British racer puts up a hard fight with some questionable maneuvers. When it starts to rain again, Dunner and Barnicoat take the risk of staying out on slick tires, Dunner dropping back by five seconds due to his car being set up for a dry track. He manages to win back most of the time lost though, finishing on P2 and only 0.6 seconds behind in the end.

The Mugello weekend has Dunner catch up to his teammate Yifei Ye, who leads overall by 89 points after Dunner missing to rounds. Thus the chance to win the overall title is still alive for Dunner. However, there only being seven races, it is a rather small one.

 

• Spa-Francorchamps: October 15-18
• Barcelona: October 29 - November 1
• Jarama: November 5-8

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28th 2020, Vienna

In race one, Dunner shows from the start where he intends to go: to the front. After the first couple of corners he has already gained four positions and is already on P3. After gaining another position, he battles his teammate Yifei Ye until the end of the race, with Ye just having the edge in the end - P2 for Dunner.

In race two, the young Austrian starts from pole despite only posting the second-fastest qualifying lap, as his teammate Ye faces a three position grid penalty. After a few slipstream duels, characteristic for the highspeed circuit of Monza, Dunner manages to move away from the field. He wins the race by nearly ten seconds, a considerable margin.

In race three, Lukas Dunner starts from third position on the grid. He manages to gain a position early in the race and starts to put pressure onto Yifei Ye straight away. The teammates overtake each other several times in a fight equally tough and fair. Dunner proves mentally stronger as he pushes Ye into a mistake in the first corner after the long finishing straight. Ye locks up his front wheels and has to take the emergency exit, handing P1 to Dunner who holds onto it until the checquered flag.

There are four more EFO race weekends waiting for Lukas Dunner. He stays in Italy until the next one, which takes place in Mugello, a track he knows well and remembers fondly from winning his first race outside karting in a LMP3 car in 2019.

"We have a really fast car and if we improve a bit on our coordination during qualifying, we can get many more good results. All in all it was a very good weekend here in Monza." - Lukas Dunner

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 15th 2020, Vienna

Young Austrian racer Lukas Dunner wraps up his FIA F3 rookie season as he finishes P21 and P17 in Mugello. He is to race five more Euroformula Open weekends and make decisions to set up his 2021 season.

With his race at Mugello Lukas Dunner wraps up his FIA F3 season in the MP Motorsport team. After placing his car on starting grid position 22, he manages to finish 21st in race and 17th in race two.

This brings an end to (part of) the racing season of the young Austrian, a season where many things did not go as planned. Six months of intense preparation - and finishing school in the midst of it - led up to one single collective test in Hockenheim, in a different car no less. At said test Dunner managed to post a lap record, which was equally motivating as it was raising expectations. As starts into rookie seasons in FIA F3 go, that was a challenging one. Not least because being down on racing kilometers in general and experience with the tires in particular is a difficult position to find yourself in among the best world's best young racers.

At the end of the season for Dunner there is certainty, that he gave it everything at every point as well as the learning, that those who make a difference are those who get up one time more often than they fall down. Dunner also sends a big thank you to his team at MP Motorsport, where - together with the young racer - a new path has been begun, the fruits of which can hopefully be reaped soon by the team. If that takes place together with Dunner is yet to be seen, as talks are ongoing.

Simultaneously there are several other talks happening as well as Formula 3 and Formula 2 tests being planned. Decisions will be made in the upcoming weeks in order to have the 2021 season all set up. As far as Formula 3 goes, there are profound changes to the series in sight.

• Monza: September 24-27
• Mugello: October 1-4
• Spa-Francorchamps: Oktober 15-18
• Barcelona: Oktober 29 - November 1
• Jarama: November 5-8

 

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10th 2020, Vienna

After several changes to the F1 calendar and subsequent changes to the F3 calendar leading to overlaps with the EFO calendar, Austrian F3 driver Lukas Dunner decides to race the F3 finale in Mugello instead of the EFO race in Austria. Monza sees Dunner again struggling with his car's topspeed, but he manages to gain 15 positions in race one, finishing P14.

In 2020, young Austrian F3 driver Lukas Dunner races two series - FIA Formula 3 and Euroformula Open - and due to overlaps of both racing calendars resulting from Covid-related changes, he has had to decide in favour of one series over the other. For the upcoming weekend he has opted for the F3 season finale instead of racing EFO on his favourite circuit, the Austrian Red Bull Ring. He therefore drops the chance of winning the EFO series by his own efforts.

His latest F3 racing weekend in Monza is one of mixed feelings for Dunner, who for the first time experiences the political side of racing, much to his disadvantage.
As with former events, which were out of his sphere of influence, the young racer uses it as a possibility to learn where he can make a difference and what - e.g. weather or driving errors of others - he has to accept as a given and move on. After a dissatisfactory qualifying he puts his car on P29 for the starting grid of race one.
In race one, he delivers a clever performance in his car which is still lacking topspeed. He manages his tires right, attacks at the right times and gains 15 positions, which puts him on P14.
Starting from which in race two, his race is over rather soon. One of the cars in front goes off-track momentarily, causing a big cloud of dust. Dunner makes a split-second decision to swerve to the left and into the gravel at high speed. He manages to only lightly touch the armco barriers, due to the speed of the incidence, it is enough to make him retire from the race.

Lukas Dunner's next race weekend starts on Friday September 11th in Mugello. It's the last of both the FIA Formula 3 season and Dunner's rookie season.

"I'm really happy with race one, I made the most out of it. In race two all I saw was a cloud of dust and I instinctively steered away from it. I've had quite enough of highspeed-crashes this season." - Lukas Dunner

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 31st 2020, Vienna

Austrian F3 driver Lukas Dunner fights lack of topspeed at the Belgian highspeed track, hard work pays off as he climbs up to P13 in race two after finishing in P21 in race one.

Young Austrian F3 driver Lukas Dunner experiences a difficult weekend in Spa but keeps calm and manages to get good results all things considered. The car by MP Motorsport which Dunner pilots - and also those of his teammates Verschoor and Viscaal - is down on topspeed compared to the other teams. Dunner however fights his way through having a slower car, red flags and rainshowers at inconvenient times and with P13 manages to take home one of his best results in FIA F3.

His attempts at a fast lap in qualifying are brought to a halt: only nine drivers can post a quick lap before an opponent spins out due to the beginning rain, resulting in a red flag. When the session restarts, the track is too wet and leaves only the lower two thirds of the grid within reach for the remaining drivers. Dunner manages to put his car in P19.

Race 1 sees no rain and no other significant incidents either for the young Austrian. In the early stages of the race he has to give up two positions to other cars on the long Kemmel straight. That leaves him in P21, where he stays until the end of the race.

Race 2 starts in chilly but dry conditions and thanks to minor changes to the car, Dunner manages to work his way through the field. Despite still suffering a lack of topspeed, he gains several positions, stays concentrated and composed through a VSC and all other phases of the race. He finishes on P13, his second best result in FIA F3.

On Wednesday, Lukas Dunner will already be on his way to Monza where he and the rest of the grid will be back, racing the legendary Italian track and supporting Formula 1.

"What a weekend. Until sunday, nothing quite worked, but race 2 was one of my best races ever. I got the most out of the car." - Lukas Dunner