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Race
1: Most part of the first race of the Formula 3 Euro Series at Zandvoort was completed behind the safety car and gave Christian Klien his third victory of the season. Points leader Ryan Briscoe caused the first safety car phase and lost valuable championship points. Once again, the Formula 3 race proved an old racing drivers’ adagium to be right: you can’t win a race on the first corner, but you can lose it there. Now, Alexandre Prémat knows that, too. While trying to overtake points leader Ryan Briscoe at the Tarzan corner, Prémat collided with the Australian, who couldn’t avoid a spin. By the time the Australian had his Dallara-Opel back into the right direction, he had dropped back to 21st and thus had to give up all hopes of scoring any championship points. The fact that three drivers also went off at the first corner following his error and that the safety car came out to neutralize the race wasn’t much of a help for Briscoe either. With the close competition in the Formula 3 Euro Series, not even exceptional talents can achieve miracles. And even less so as Briscoe didn’t have much time to recover: Japanese Sakon Yamamoto caused safety car intervention number two after getting off the track. And that lasted five laps, that Prémat, Bernhard Auinger and Jamie Green had to watch from the pits after the first corner accident. As racing finally resumed, only four minutes were left for the best European junior drivers to change positions. Christian Klien could hardly care less. Apart from Briscoe’s attack on the first lap, there were no special highlights in the race. With a lights-to-flag victory, adorned by the fastest race lap, he proved his mark as Zandvoort-superstar once again. Bruno Spengler and Olivier Pla in second and third place couldn’t prevent this, having to watch Klien pulling away lap after lap before becoming the first to take the chequered flag. Robert Doornbos’s wishes came true: in front of his home crowd, he ended the race in fifth place behind Markus Winkelhock. In the brief spell of the race, his compatriot Charles Zwolsman could only make up from 21st to 16th place. INTERVIEWS: Christian Klien (Mücke Motorsport): "It was a tough race, especially the safety car phase was difficult, as the engine temperatures were running quite high. Of course, Ryan Briscoe’s problems were my luck. This weekend is very important for me. I still have all the chances to compete for the title. There are still five races, so I can score many points.“
Race
2: With an excellent start, Ryan Briscoe claimed victory in today’s second race at Zandvoort ahead of his main rival Christian Klien, who in turn was followed by Olivier Pla. Bernhard Auinger and Simon Abadie collided at the first corner. Abadie’s car barrel-rolled and after that, like yesterday, a third of the race had to be completed behind the safety car. That Ryan Briscoe (PREMA Powerteam) wouldn’t be making life easy for Christian Klien (Mücke Motorsport), was obvious. But that the Australian wouldn’t even need 100 metres to solve the Klien-problem during the 16th round of the season, was still a surprise. With an impeccable start, he went past the Austrian before the first corner and took first place, which he wasn’t to lose again until the chequered flag came out. Not even when the field got off to a re-start after a long safety car intervention. The neutralisation was caused by a mega shunt during the first corner. Once again, it was the Tarzanbocht where the drivers had problems sorting out who would have advantage. And once more, Bernhard Auinger (Superfund TME) was one of the victims. At the exit of the 180 degree corner, he collided with Simon Abadie (LD Autosport) and came off the track. The Frenchman had even worse luck as his car barrel-rolled after the collision. Fortunately, there was only material damage. Recovering the two damaged cars and cleaning the track took one third of the duration of the race. INTERVIEWS: Ryan Briscoe (PREMA
Powerteam): “Today, I had to concentrate totally on the start, because
that was the only possibility to overtake Christian. Here at Zandvoort,
overtaking the leader is almost impossible during the race. This tactic
worked! Now, I hope to repeat my result from the season opener in
Hockenheim at the same venue in a fortnight’s time, so that I can
win the title already there. But I am afraid that Christian won’t
be making it that easy for me.” |