Paul di Resta has kept the Formula Three Euro Series title in British hands for the third year running, despite finishing out of the points in tenth place in the opening race of the weekend's final round at Hockenheim.

With the extra point he gained for pole position already making the title something of a formality, even a drive-through penalty for jumping the start was not enough to give di Resta's one and only title rival Sebastian Vettel the chance to keep the himself in the fight, the German settling for third in a race he needed to win.

Instead, victory went to Esteban Guerrieri, the Argentine benefiting from penalties for di Resta and also the Scot's ASM team-mate Giedo van der Garde for creeping at the start, to move into the lead at a quarter distance and hold off an eager Sebastien Buemi for his second win of the season.

From the start di Resta and van der Garde led into the first corner having gained an advantage from the lights, ahead of Guerrieri and Buemi. Their joy though was duly short lived when they were both called in to serve their drive-through penalty, with di Resta coming in first and van der Garde following a couple of laps later having assumed the lead.

Guerrieri, who had started on the front row of the grid, thus moved into the lead and gradually began to pull out a margin over Buemi, the Swiss teenager chasing a good result to end the year, while Vettel was up from seventh on the grid but hardly bothering the duo in front of him.

Guerrieri though very nearly handed victory to Buemi when he went off late in the race, a mistake that allowed the Mucke Motorsport driver to pursue a renewed motivation for victory, even if he would eventually have to settle for second place, less than a second behind Guerreri.

Vettel was a rather lonely third, over two seconds away from the win he needed to keep his title dreams alive, a result that means di Resta joins compatriots Jamie Green and Lewis Hamilton on the list of champions, even if the Scot did endure one of his most challenging races of the season.

Eventually he would finish the race back in tenth, actually behind van der Garde after the Dutchman found a way past as di Resta attempted a move on eighth place Jonathan Summerton and instead found himself off the track briefly.

As a result, both van der Garde and di Resta have it all to do in the second race from ninth and tenth on the grid, while Summerton has the honour of starting final race of the season from pole position.

Alongside him on the grid will be Robert Streit, the Brazilian making an impressive comeback to the series after a two year absence to record only the second points scoring result for Prema Powerteam this season. Fourth, fifth and sixth in the results – and therefore third, fourth and fifth on the grid for the second race – were Guillaume Moreau, Kohei Hirate and Charlie Kimball.