Second season victory for Buemi – title race still
open
Track temperature: 27.8 º C
Air temperature: 23.4 º C
Swiss driver Sébastien Buemi (Mücke Motorsport)
claimed victory in the 18th season round of the Formula 3
Euro Series at the 3.636 kilometres long Circuit Paul Armagnac.
Kamui Kobayashi (ASM Formule 3) and Nico Hülkenberg (ASM
Formule 3) finished second and third respectively in the race
at Nogaro. Points leader Romain Grosjean (ASM Formule 3) didn’t
finish any better than fifth and thus failed in deciding the
title race early. With two rounds to go, he has a seven points’
margin over Buemi, who is his only remaining rival.
>From fifth position on the grid, Buemi had a good start
and was already second after the opening lap. On lap 13, he
took the lead as erstwhile leader, Italian Edoardo Mortara
(Signature-Plus) came in for a drive-through penalty because
of a jump start. Until taking the chequered flag after 29
laps, the Mücke Motorsport driver remained under continuous
pressure from Kobayashi. However, the 18-year old Swiss successfully
held off all attacks and just drove his second victory of
the season home ahead of the Japanese.
Sébastien Buemi (Mücke Motorsport):
“I had a good start but I couldn’t keep up with
Mortara. I took the lead as he came in for his penalty. It
was a very difficult race, because Kobayashi kept putting
me under pressure and I couldn’t make any mistakes.
This victory is very important for me. Now, the battle for
the title will be decided at Hockenheim.”
Kamui Kobayashi (ASM Formule 3): “It
was a nice race that was real fun. I was faster than Buemi
and tried to overtake him many times. However, there is only
one place here where you can do so. Towards the end, I didn’t
take all the risk anymore because I didn’t want to jeopardize
my podium finish.”
Nico Hülkenberg (ASM Formule 3): “I
had a great view of the battle that was going on in front
of me between the two leaders. Unfortunately, they didn’t
make any mistakes. Still, climbing up from sixth on the grid
to third is quite a good performance.”
|
