Nico Hülkenberg: Second pole in second qualifying
Air temperature: 26.3 °C
Asphalt temperature: 33.9 °C
So far this season, qualifying in the Formula 3 Euro Series
has been the domain of Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix,
1:41.443 min). Just like during the season opener at Hockenheim,
he also came out fastest in the second qualifying of the year
at Mugello in Italy. Koudai Tsukakoshi (Manor Motorsport,
1:41.609 min), Christian Vietoris (Mücke Motorsport,
1:41.765 min) and Renger van der Zande (Prema Powerteam, 1:41.905
min) will be completing the first two rows on the starting
grid for the third season round of the Formula 3 Euro Series
at the 5.245 kilometres long circuit in Tuscany.
Hülkenberg drove his fastest lap time eight minutes
before the end of the session. The final attacks of his rivals
weren’t good enough to take the top position away from
the test driver of the Williams-Toyota-F1-team. Third-placed
Christian Vietoris pushed a little bit too hard on his final
attempt and had to plough through the gravel trap.
Italian driver, Edoardo Mortara (Signature-Plus, 1:42.108
min) was best-placed driver with a Volkswagen engine in seventh
place behind fastest rookie, Jules Bianchi (ART Grand Prix,
1:41.906) and James Jakes (ART Grand Prix, 1:42.099 min).
Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix): “Qualifying
wasn’t easy. Compared to free practice, the track had
changed a lot so that the car didn’t behave all the
time like I had expected it to. Moreover, the asphalt was
significantly warmer than in the morning. In these conditions,
tyres wore out particularly quickly, I could only do one quick
lap. This one was about 95 percent right.”
Koudai Tsukakoshi (Manor Motorsport): “The
balance of my car is really good. In qualifying, I entirely
focussed on finding the right line and not making any mistakes.
Moreover, I tried to find a clear lap, in which I succeeded.
I am really happy with second place.”
Christian Vietoris (Mücke Motorsport):
“I am very happy with third place, as the Mugello circuit
doesn’t suit me. It took me a few laps to get on the
pace. In testing on Thursday, I was way down on the front
runners, now I lacked only 0.322 seconds. On my final lap,
I was too quick. The tyres were already over their peak and
I landed in the gravel trap.”
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