F3 Euroseries Season Opener!

[pericu]

Pre Test 1:
http://www.f3euroseries.com/ergebnis...8-04-10-t1.pdf

Pre Test 2:
http://www.f3euroseries.com/ergebnis...8-04-10-t2.pdf

The second sesion seems to be more real than the first, where possibly the teams hasn't got a good time (see Nico).
Excellent Prema. The three cars in top5, the best team today. Nico as always the first. The first Volkswagen for Signature and Vernay.

[Daisy]

First session started wet, from what I read.

[pericu]

Free practise

1. 23 Clos/ESP Prema Powerteam 21 1:34.997
2. 9 v. d. Zande/NED Prema Powerteam 23 1:35.249 00.252
3. 14 Klein/GER Jo Zeller Racing 23 1:35.441 00.444
4. 26 Mäki/FIN Mücke Motorsport 23 1:35.442 00.445
5. 7 Mortara/ITA Signature-Plus 19 1:35.579 00.582
6. 3 Vietoris/GER Mücke Motorsport 24 1:35.675 00.678
7. 31 Coletti/MON Signature-Plus 18 1:35.709 00.712
8. 28 Tsukakoshi/JPN Manor Motorsport 21 1:35.773 00.776
9. 5 Bird/GBR Manor Motorsport 21 1:35.802 00.805
10. 8 Mailleux/FRA Signature-Plus 17 1:35.809 00.812
11. 24 Bianchi/FRA ART Grand Prix 19 1:35.877 00.880
12. 4 Janis/CZE Mücke Motorsport 22 1:35.915 00.918
13. 2 Jakes/GBR ART Grand Prix 15 1:36.068 01.071
14. 20 Waldschmidt/NED SG Formula 14 1:36.094 01.097
15. 22 Gonzalez/VEN Carlin Motorsport 20 1:36.110 01.113
16. 17 Götz/GER RC Motorsport 21 1:36.141 01.144
17. 29 Oshima/JPN Manor Motorsport 23 1:36.189 01.192
18. 15 Campos-Hull/SPA HBR Motorsport 18 1:36.206 01.209
19. 1 Hülkenberg/GER ART Grand Prix 19 1:36.229 01.232
20. 19 Dillmann/FRA SG Formula 15 1:36.242 01.245
21. 27 Shaaban/LIB HBR Motorsport 19 1:36.292 01.295
22. 30 Vernay/FRA Signature-Plus 17 1:36.393 01.396
23. 10 Kimball/USA Prema Powerteam 24 1:36.404 01.407
24. 34 Clairay/FRA SG Formula 14 1:36.617 01.620
25. 32 Klingmann/GER RC Motorsport 19 1:36.970 01.973
26. 21 Philippe/FRA Carlin Motorsport 16 1:37.347 02.350
27. 6 Breen/IRL Manor Motorsport 18 1:37.550 02.553
28. 18 Plowman/GBR RC Motorsport 23 1:37.838 02.841
29. 25 Lancaster/GBR ART Grand Prix 10 1:45.683 10.686

I'm very happy, Clos 1º, the only in 1:34. But in general Prema is very good.
The qualy will be in 16:55, 'because the rescue helicopter at Hockenheim was grounded due to fog'.

[Daisy]

Qualifying cancelled due bad weather. They'll try again tomorrow. It's unclear to me if they have qualifying instead of race 1 and just one race on sunday, or that qualifying will be before 11.50AM, when race 1 is due to start.

[chunterer]

Split from pre season thread for obvious reasons....

Shocking weather then, unbelievable!

Judging by his speed in last practice, it looks like another young Spaniard is threatening to upset the applecart as in British series then?!!

[pericu]

The qualy has been disputed at 8:50 to 9:15 this morning. The track was wet, but not raining, so the drivers did the best times at final of the sesion. Bad luck for Clos, who had many possibilities for pole in dry track. The race will be very interesting, with a Nico in pole and two Mucke behind and Bianchi. ¿What happens with Manor? Bad form.
In two hours, more an less, the Race 1.

Qualy
http://f3.gpupdate.net/nl/raceresult...acepartID=2261

[pericu]

Sorry, I have repeated the post

[Daisy]

Hülkenberg on pole is no suprise, Mäki strong again. Prema has to come from far, but they showed a good pace in the dry so if the race is dry, it can be interesting to see what they can do.

[Last2LiftOff]

Respectable showing from the VW's, didn't take them long.

[pericu]

Race 1
Hulkenberg out, Bianchi out, Lancaster out, Clos out...
A lot of bad luck for Clos, who started the race 9º and he was in 6º (after overtake Lancaster) when Lancaster jumped over Vernay and hit Dani.

Hulkenberg has had mechanical problems when the safety car was in track for Lancaster's accident.



Last year, also James Jakes hit Dani in the same situation.
The winner is Maki (¿maybe the first rookie that win the debut race in Euro?) and 2º Kimball, who confirms Prema as a strong team for championship (Van der Zande 8º, so pole for tomorrow).

[Last2LiftOff]

Bringing the live timing link forward.

[strider]

The Signature-Plus cars were 3rd, 4th and 5th, which means VW engines doesn't it? I bet they'll be pleased with that.

[chunterer]

Maki, very good.

VW, very good too.....

[Valker]

What happened to Bianchi?

[strider]

The answer is in this report, Valker: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66581

[Daisy]

That was a nasty crash, you saw the images on Youtube. Both Lancaster and Clos were lucky that Jon's car 'only' hit the back of Dani and didn't fully smash into the Prema car. Could have been much worse.

(brings back memories of Lucas Di Grassi, who ran into the back on Giedo Van Der Garde's car, exactly 3 years ago in I think the exact same spot. I think he hang in the wall at the end.)

[Lam Pak]

volkswagen are piecing together what they believe really makes us happy. mercedes imperium is being eaten softly. this maki was a good surprise. hope mucke travels to macau this year. they should race here.

[Monkey Head]

Originally Posted by Lam Pak

this maki was a good surprise. hope mucke travels to macau this year. they should race here.

they have never visited and won't visit because they think long trip will cost their time of testing.Let see whether RBJ arrange Maki to another team for Macau,like what they did on Buemi last two years.

[pericu]

In fifteen minutes, the second race.
Lancaster isn't going to participate it, through the fault of the accident
The principal focus of this race. The fight between Hulkenberg, Bianchi and Clos at the end of the grid. The fight for win with Van der Zande and Vietoris

[Daisy]

Van Der Zande wins race 2, ahead of Vietoris and Mortara. Mailleux, Clairay and Bird take the rest of the points. Man of the race is Dani Clos, from 21st to 7th, just behind Bird. Hulkenberg was also moving up, but not so quick as Clos, but he retired a few laps before the end. Maki and Kimball also out.

Maki and Mortara share the lead with 10 points each, Kimball and Mailleux both have 8 and Vietoris and Vd Zande have 7 points.

[Francis Albert]

Congratulations to Renger! And good to see Prema back on form.

[Last2LiftOff]

Originally Posted by Edoardo Mortara

We are still losing a little bit on the straight to the Mercedes cars. You can feel the difference on the straight when you're not in the slipstream so maybe there is a little bit of acceleration to come but we have a strong base. We knew it would be difficult for us at the beginning of the season and we know some evolutions will come, but in top speeds we are very close already.

Excerpt from an Autosport article. Top marks to VW (too) on an impressive first showing. Now if someone could just point me to some video highlights of the races...