Nico Hülkenberg claims pole position from rookie Mika
Mäki
Air temperature: 8.1 °C
Asphalt temperature: 4.7 °C
Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix, 1:45.474 min) claimed
pole position for the season opener of the Formula 3 Euro
Series which will be taking place this afternoon at the 4.574
kilometres long Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg. The
German was 0.751 seconds faster while lapping the Grand Prix
track than Mika Mäki (Mücke Motorsport, 1:46.225
min). Mäki’s team mate, Christian Vietoris (1:46.355
min) and fastest Volkswagen driver, Edoardo Mortara (Signature-Plus,
1:46.888 min) claimed third and fourth place respectively.
Only in the final seconds, Nico Hülkenberg outpaced
the erstwhile leader Mika Mäki and took over top spot.
Christian Vietoris also secured himself his position only
on his final qualifying lap. Next to Mäki, the two rookie
drivers Jules Bianchi (ART Grand Prix, 1:46.967 min) and Jon
Lancaster (ART Grand Prix, 1:46.969 min) also made it into
the top six while the track dried out.
Qualifying took place early on Saturday morning, one day later
than planned. Heavy rain was the reason that qualifying had
to be cancelled on Friday afternoon.
Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix): “Qualifying
was quite exciting. Although the track dried out more and
more, changing to slicks was impossible. In the closing stages,
it was crucial to find the right line. On my final lap, I
had a clear track and it worked out. But pole position is
only half the job.”
Mika Mäki (Mücke Motorsport): “It went really
well. My engineer told me ‘P1’ over the radio
all the time. Of course, I wanted to retain this position.
However, my final lap was not as good as Nico Hülkenberg’s.
Still, I can be happy with second place in my maiden qualifying
in the Formula 3 Euro Series.”
Christian Vietoris (Mücke Motorsport): “I blew
all my chances of a better position on my final lap, because
I was too quick in the first two corners. For the rest of
the lap, I drove very cautiously as I didn’t want to
make any more mistakes. I didn’t expect that I would
still make it to third place.”
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