Maiden pole position for Christian Vietoris
25.07.2008 - Christian Vietoris (Mücke Motorsport, 1:23.259 min) secured himself his maiden pole position in the Formula 3 Euro Series. In his home event at the 3.629 kilometres long Nürburgring, he beat his fellow-German Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix, 1:23.541 min), who ended up second. The second row of the grid will be occupied by the two Frenchmen Tom Dillmann (Jo Zeller Racing, 1:23.593 min) and Jules Bianchi (ART Grand Prix, 1:23.706 min).
In the closing stages of the 30 minutes’ qualifying, the 30 drivers of the Formula 3 Euro Series showed a fascinating battle with many position changes. Finally, Christian Vietoris came out on top after setting his fastest lap time in the final minutes. He toppled erstwhile leader Nico Hülkenberg and thus prevented the test driver of the Williams Formula 1 team from claiming his fifth pole of the season.
Third place for Tom Dillmann was the best-ever qualifying result for his new team Jo Zeller Racing in the Formula 3 Euro Series. Dillmann and best-placed rookie Jules Bianchi were followed by Mika Mäki (Mücke Motorsport, 1:23.784 min), James Jakes (ART Grand Prix, 1:23.835 min) and Renger van der Zande (Prema Powerteam, 1:23.850 min). Australian Daniel Ricciardo (SG Formula, 1:23.878 min), who has his first-ever Formula 3 weekend in the Eifel, shone with the eighth fastest time in qualifying.
Christian Vietoris (Mücke Motorsport): “Finally, my first pole position in the Formula 3 Euro Series! With the first set of tyres, I made a slight mistake, but with the second set, I got a very good lap. Now, I want to win my home race tomorrow.”
Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix): “My qualifying wasn’t excellent. In qualifying, the track was different from what we had in this morning’s free practice, because there is now more rubber on the track from the other race series. In fact, my lap wasn’t too bad. Well, anyway, second place on the grid is quite okay.”
Tom Dillmann (Jo Zeller Racing): “My entire weekend has been great so far and I have been able to improve from one session to another. Now, I want to finish on the podium tomorrow.”
Air temperature: 27.0 °C
Asphalt temperature: 34.9 °C