Renger van der Zande lets Prema cheer
Track temperature: 22.2 º C
Air temperature: 21.9 º C
Dutch driver Renger van der Zande (Prema Powerteam) claimed
victory in the 16th season round of the Formula 3 Euro Series
and brought his team the first victory since October, 2003.
He led home the two Frenchmen Tom Dillmann (ASM Formule 3)
and Franck Mailleux (Manor Motorsport), who finished second
and third respectively. Points leader Romain Grosjean (ASM
Formule 3; 79 points) remained without a countable result,
his title rival Sébastien Buemi (Mücke Motorsport;
74 points) scored one point by finishing sixth. Thus, he reduced
his gap to five points with four races to go.
The race started with a huge pile-up. Italian Edoardo Piscopo
(Mücke Motorsport) stalled on pole position and some
drivers didn’t succeed in avoiding his car. In total,
nine drivers retired on the first few metres. The safety-car
neutralised the race until the seventh lap. After the re-start,
Van der Zande drove his undisputed lights-to-flag victory
home.
Renger van der Zande (Prema Powerteam): “I am really
happy with my maiden win in the Formula 3 Euro Series and
the first victory for Prema for a long time. In the last couple
of races, we have come closer and closer to the front runners
and now we are on top. The race was fairly easy. I was able
to control it while in front.”
Tom Dillmann (ASM Formule 3): “I am happy. I had a
good start, but I lost quite a lot of time behind James Jakes.
After he made a mistake, I could move up into third. The gap
to Van der Zande was too big to catch him.”
Franck Mailleux (Manor Motorsport): “This was probably
the best start of my life, but unfortunately, Piscopo stalled
in front of me. I just managed to avoid him, but I braked
too late before the first corner, so that I came off the track.
After the safety car phase, I was eighth and I still made
it up into third.”
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