F3 Euroseries news

Hulkenberg leads free practice

Free practice at the 2.3 kilometres long Norisring was marked by a fascinating battle between the drivers of the Formula 3 Euro Series. Eventually, Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix, 0:49.411 min) came out on top. Behind him, Jules Bianchi (ART Grand Prix, 0:49.516 min) and James Jakes (ART Grand Prix, 0:49.573 min) completed the triple success for ART. A total of 26 drivers ranked within one second with their respective fastest lap times.

During the one-hour session, some drivers swapped places on top of the leaderboard. After a quarter of an hour, Jules Bianchi was on top, but soon after, Richard Philippe (Carlin Motorsport, 0:49.711 min) took the lead. The Frenchman was involved in a battle for the leading position with Nico Hülkenberg, which eventually was decided in favour of the German. Hülkenberg was in the lead at the halfway-mark.

A few minutes later, Hülkenberg's team-mate James Jakes was the first driver to lap under 50 seconds. However, his lead wasn't to last long either: firstly, he was outpaced by Bianchi and then by Koudai Tsukakoshi (Manor Motorsport, 0:49.644 min) and Hülkenberg. With ten minutes remaining, the French rookie improved his own fastest lap time to 0:49.677 minutes.
However, it wasn't enough for him: almost at the same time, Nico Hülkenberg and James Jakes outpaced their team mate. While Bianchi steered into the pit lane, he was beaten by Dani Clos (Prema Powerteam, 0:49.613 min) and Tsukakoshi as well.

With five minutes left, Hülkenberg was in the lead from Jakes, Clos, Tsukakoshi and Bianchi. In the closing stages, the leading German was able to improve his own best time once more, while his two main rivals Jakes and Clos entered the pit lane three minutes before the end of the session. However, the Spaniard didn't give up yet, he started another attempt. However, it wasn't enough for a successful attack at the fastest lap time. Instead, he lost another position to Jules Bianchi who moved up into second.

After 60 minutes, the final order was Hülkenberg from Bianchi, Jakes, Clos, Tsukakoshi, Christian Vietoris (Mücke Motorsport, 0:49.651 min), Philippe and Jon Lancaster (ART Grand Prix, 0:49.755 min). Series' returnee, Stefano Coletti (Prema Powerteam, 0:51.017 min), who took the place left vacant by Charlie Kimball at the Prema Powerteam after having missed one race weekend ended up last.

"It was good. My car felt well and it was fun. Now, we only have to repeat this in this afternoon's qualifying", said Nico Hülkenberg, delighted with his first position. His team-mate Jules Bianchi, who has never raced at the Norisring before, was also happy: "Nico was only fastest in the first corner". Bianchi's impression of the track is as follows: "It isn't easy and very bumpy. Because the track is so short, being better isn't easy. When you look at how close all the lap times are here, that becomes clear, too."
Fourth-placed Dani Clos intends to attack: "This was only free practice, the times don't mean a lot. But we have done a good job and my clear goal for qualifying is pole position. I think this could be possible here."

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• 11 Jul.
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• 28 Jun.
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• 27 Jun.
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• 06 May
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• 15 Apr.
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