HOCKENHEIM
Mika Maki won the opening round of the Formula Three Euro series held at Hockenheim last weekend driving for Mücke Motorsport as rivals ART hit problems.
My preseason champion ART driver Nico Hulkenberg started from pole but retired with an engine problem and team mate Jon Lancaster barrel-rolled his car after colliding with Jean-Karl Vernay in a dispute over sixth place.
All this left Charlie Kimball, Americas next great hope, to finish second for Prema Powerteam ahead of a Signature-Plus trio with Eduardo Mortara third, Franck Mailleux fourth and Vernay fifth. Behind Maximillian Gotz was sixth for RC Motorsport with Christian Vietoris way down the order in seventh place for Mücke. Eighth was Ranger Van Der Zande driving for Prema Powerteam. The Formula Three Euro series uses the same scoring system was Formula One for race one therefore only the top eight finishers score points.
In the shorted race two the scoring system is 6-5-4-3-2-1 as it is in the shorted GP2 race.
The top eight from race one are reversed on the race two grid, giving Van Der Zande the pole he converted into a dominant win second on the grid and in the race was Vietoris who could not get near the Dutchman. Third was again was Mortara with Mailleux again following him into fourth place. The final points went to SG Formula driver Yann Clairay in fifth and Sam Bird who finished sixth for Manor Motorsport. Nico Hulkenberg again retired with an engine problem.
The championship is lead by Maki. He is tied on ten points with Mortara but Maki leads due to his win. Tied on third place are Kimball and Mailleux who both have eight points.
Written: Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:20:59
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