Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Mortara wins for VW at Pau

Mortara wins for VW at Pau

Formula 3 Euro Series championship leader Edoardo Mortara claimed his first victory of the season at Pau this afternoon, the first win for VW in their 14th race since returning to the category.

Polesitter Renger van der Zande was unable to resist Mortara's charge through the field from seventh. The Dutchman had struggled for grip in qualifying, a problem which also afflicted his Prema team-mate Dani Clos, who started race one from 26th.

The pair survived Saturday's race of attrition to round out the podium in race two. Clos was fortunate to get away with hitting the tyres at turn one, Virage de la Gare, but continued to pick off Christian Vietoris for third at Lycee on the last lap.

Vietoris had produced a fine display in practice in the dry on Friday and was a dark horse for race two starting from fourth. The German nearly lost control under braking for Pont Oscar on the opening lap and had to settle for fourth.

Extremely wet conditions necessitated the safety car to be deployed for the first two laps. Van der Zande pulled away from fellow front row starter Michael Klein as the race turned green, with the enormous advantage of clear visibility.

Franck Mailleux came under intense pressure from team-mate Mortara in the battle for fifth, and the Italian found a way through at La Gare on lap seven. Mortara disposed of Vietoris at Lycee on the next tour and Clos at Pont Oscar on lap nine.

At the start of lap 10, Mortara had reeled in and passed second man Klein at La Gare and, lapping six tenths quicker than van der Zande, soon had the leader in his sights.

Mortara moved the VW-powered Signature car into the lead with another deft move at La Gare.

"I overtook six cars, it was an intense race weekend," said Mortara. "Today I had a great car, the team did an amazing job, but when it dried a little bit I was struggling. The tyres were finished. But I had grip at the beginning in the wet, and that's what made the difference."

Pos Driver Car Time 1. Edoardo Mortara Dallara/Volkswagen 40:24.353 2. Renger van der Zande Dallara/Mercedes +4.054 3. Daniel Clos Dallara/Mercedes +4.186 4. Christian Vietoris Dallara/Mercedes +4.743 5. Franck Mailleux Dallara/Volkswagen +14.248 6. James Jakes Dallara/Mercedes +16.206 7. Jon Lancaster Dallara/Mercedes +17.567 8. Robert Wickens Dallara/Volkswagen +18.334 9. Michael Klein Dallara/Mercedes +18.703 10. Kazuya Oshima Dallara/Mercedes +20.227 11. Sam Bird Dallara/Mercedes +20.807 12. Erik Janis Dallara/Mercedes +21.216 13. Yann Clairay Dallara/Mercedes +31.800 14. Jean-Karl Vernay Dallara/Volkswagen +32.925 15. Mika Maki Dallara/Mercedes +34.175 16. Nico Hulkenberg Dallara/Mercedes +35.569 17. Henkie Waldschmidt Dallara/Mercedes +52.781 18. Kodai Tsukakoshi Dallara/Mercedes +53.260 19. Daniel Campos Dallara/Mercedes +54.557 20. Jens Klingmann Dallara/Volkswagen +58.402 21. Rodolfo Gonzalez Dallara/Mercedes +59.554 22. Cheng Cong Fu Dallara/Volkswagen +1:09.510 23. Charlie Kimball Dallara/Mercedes +1:11.820 24. Basil Shaaban Dallara/Mercedes +1 lap 25. Tom Dillmann Dallara/Mercedes +3 laps 26. Jules Bianchi Dallara/Mercedes +3 laps 27. Martin Plowman Dallara/Volkswagen +6 laps Retirements: Driver Car Laps Niall Breen Dallara/Mercedes 14 laps Maximilian Gotz Dallara/Volkswagen 8 laps Richard Philippe Dallara/Mercedes 4 laps

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