Edoardo Mortara, the reigning F3 Euroseries rookie champion who is currently leading the championship overall, aims to come out of the fourth race meeting of the season this weekend maintaining his advantage.

The Signature team driver, now in his second year of the highly-competitive Formula 3 Euroseries, has a 14-point lead over Finn Mika Maki heading into this weekend’s pair of races at the Norisring in Germany.

The French-Italian’s key objective is to hang onto the advantage he has painstakingly built up with his three podium finishes so far – which make him the most consistent driver in the series. Edoardo is powered by an all-new Volkswagen engine this year, which is also leading the championship for the first time: an impressive achievement in its debut season.

Thanks to the impressive margin he holding over his rivals, Edoardo will not need to push as hard as he can this weekend. Nonetheless, the Norisring is a famously tight and technical high-speed track where anything can happen.

Although the circuit layout appears to be simple, the metal barriers at the side of the track are notoriously unforgiving – as is the case with most pre-war circuits. There are a number of overtaking opportunities, but the drivers have to be brave and take exceptional care not to clip the outside wall.

“There’s no doubt about it, the Norisring is an extremely challenging circuit with lots of little traps to cactch people out,” said Edoardo. “But we are in the fortunate situation where we are not obliged to take every risk going. My goal is to get two solid points finishes in the bag that will allow me to keep the lead of the championship. Having said that, we’re sure to be going at a quick pace as it’s important to be as far up the grid as possible in order to avoid getting into any sort of trouble.”

Free practice at the 2.3-kilometre German circuit gets underway at 11:45 on Friday 27 June, followed by qualifying at 17:20. Race one takes place at 11:50 on Saturday 28 June, while race two is at 10:55 on Sunday 29 June.

The weather should be warm, but as always conditions in Germany near Nuremburg can be unpredictable. “I’m feeling very relaxed: Signature and Volkswagen have done an absolutely impeccable job so far,” added Edoardo. “I’m looking forward to more of the same this weekend.”