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Hulkenberg closing in on Mortara

NURBURGRING

Round six of Formula Three Euroseries returned to the Grand Prix venue of the Nurburgring. Eduardo Mortara of Signature is still leading the championship on forty points. Mika Maki of Mucke has moved to second with thirty-one with Ranger Van Der Zande of Prema third with twenty-seven.

The first race was dominated by Nico Hulkenberg of ART. He started second alongside my other preseason favourite, Christian Vietoris of Mucke but Vietoris had a very bad start and from that point Hulkenberg was not challenged as team mate Jules Bianchi obediently followed him home.

Series returnee Tom Dillmann finished third for Jo Zeller ahead of Maki who seemed more concerned about finishing the race and taking the points rather than risk as pass with Mortara recording another retirement.

Mortara qualified way back down the grid in twenty-first place and was involved in the first lap crash that also eliminated Erik Janis of Mucke and Dani Clos of Prema.

Following Maki home in a lonely fifth place was Van Der Zande who finished ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who was making his series debut for the SG Team. Jon Lancaster was seventh for ART and Niall Breen completed the points for Manor giving him pole for the second race.

Race two was won by Lancaster making it a double win for the ART Team. He beat Breen in to turn one and for the remainder of the race he had Breen behind but he could do nothing to get past and was forced to settle for second.

ARTs day got even better when Bianchi finished third and Hulkenberg in fourth.

Hulkenberg had started eighth but gained places on the grid. Ricciardo was starting third but stalled on the grid, right behind was Maki who attempted to swerve around Ricciardo but clipped the back of the car and damaged his rear suspension eliminating him from the race. Van Der Zande also stalled on the grid from fourth.

Dillmann finished fifth and Yann Clairay completed the point down to sixth place for SG. It was another bad race for Mortara he was making progress through the pack until he was hit from behind by Clos. He finished the race without a rear wing in twenty-third place.

Despite second non-score in a row Mortara still leads the championship. His score of forty has not changed but behind Hulkenberg has jumped up into second place and is now only one point behind with thirty-nine. Maki is still in third with thirty-six.

Written: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:46:25