Brands Hatch: Nico Hülkenberg now championship leader
Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix) is the new championship leader of the Formula 3 EuroSeries. At the Indy circuit of Brands Hatch, only 1.929 kilometres short the 21-year-old celebrated his fifth victory of the season.
On the Thursday prior to the race weekend, the appeal court judges opted for allowing the appeal filed by Team ART Grand Prix against their driver’s Zandvoort disqualification for having failed to meet the minimum-weight regulations.
In the qualifying the 21-year-old was really quick, but he lost two tenths of a second in the second sector and had to be satisfied with second position in the starting grid for Saturday´s race.
After the start, Jules Bianchi took the lead, which he kept until the 23rd lap. Then, he had to come into the pit lane for a drive through penalty. The clerk of the course found that he had set a fastest sector time while yellow flags were out. Nico Hülkenberg took the lead and kept it without until crossing the finish line without any problems.
During the race on Sunday Hülkenberg, test driver for the Williams Formula 1 team, had a successful overtaking manoeuvre as he went past Yann Clairay (SG Formula). Finally he saw the checkered flag in fifth position and scored important points for the overall ranking.
His victory on Saturday allowed Nico Hülkenberg (61 points) to extend his points lead to 13 points. After 14 rounds, the Italian Edoardo Mortara (Signature-Plus) is second with 48 points.
From 19th to 21st of September the season races number 15 and 16 will be held at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
For the results (PDF) please click here:
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