Hulkenberg inherits Brands win

Nico Hulkenberg added another 10 points to his F3 Euro Series lead at Brands Hatch on Saturday when he inherited victory from his ART Grand Prix teammate Jules Bianchi, who lost a likely win when he was penalised for driving too fast under yellows.

Bianchi started from pole, and led comfortably into Paddock as Hulkenberg got too much wheelspin. Koudai Tsukakoshi (Manor) almost got past Hulkenberg around the outside of the first corner, while behind all hell let lose as James Jakes (ART) and Sam Bird (Manor) collided, sending Bird into a spin in front of the pack and out of the race.

Bianchi quickly pulled out a lead as Hulkenberg was struggling to get his tyres up to pressure without overheating the rears. Bianchi was 3 seconds up when he was shown the drive-through penalty board, as the race steward judged that he had improved his laptime under waved yellow flags. He was the first of six drivers to be penalised in this manner.

Bianchi pitted at half distance and rejoined seventh. He quickly dealt with sixth-placed Christian Vietoris at Druids, but when he tried to repeat the move on teammate Jakes a few laps later, he took both of them out into the gravel.

Hulkenberg, meanwhile, couldn't believe his luck and cruised to his fifth victory of the year. Tsukakoshi was 6 seconds behind at the flag, but well clear of third-placed Yann Clairay (SG), who leapt up from seventh on the grid at the start when he went around the Bird/Jakes clash.

Edoardo Mortara was a gutsy fourth for Signature, and the first of the VW-powered cars home. He just held off Vietoris as his tyres faded badly in the closing stages - a vital results as he bids to stay within reach of Hulkenberg's title lead.

Renger van der Zande (Prema) finished sixth, ahead of Signature duo Franck Mailleux and Jean Karl Vernay, who lock out the reverse grid front row for tomorrow's race.

Classified: Pos Driver Make Time 1. Nico Hulkenberg Dallara/Mercedes 40:38.243 2. K.Tsukakoshi Dallara/Mercedes + 5.966 3. Yann Clairay Dallara/Mercedes + 20.718 4. Edoardo Mortara Dallara/Volkswagen + 21.707 5. C.Vietoris Dallara/Mercedes + 22.396 6. R.van der Zande Dallara/Mercedes + 24.409 7. Franck Mailleux Dallara/Volkswagen + 26.202 8. Jean-Karl Vernay Dallara/Volkswagen + 27.106 9. Jon Lancaster Dallara/Mercedes + 27.728 10. H.Waldschmidt Dallara/Mercedes + 27.997 11. Jens Klingmann Dallara/Volkswagen + 1 Lap 12. Erik Janis Dallara/Mercedes + 1 Lap 13. Niall Breen Dallara/Mercedes + 1 Lap 14. Daniel Campos Dallara/Mercedes + 1 Lap 15. Richard Philippe Dallara/Mercedes + 1 Lap 16. Cheng Cong Fu Dallara/Volkswagen + 1 Lap 17. Daniel Clos Dallara/Mercedes + 1 Lap 18. Rodolfo Gonzalez Dallara/Mercedes + 1 Lap 19. Martin Plowman Dallara/Volkswagen + 1 Lap 20. Stefano Coletti Dallara/Mercedes + 2 Laps 21. Mika Maki Dallara/Mercedes + 4 Laps 22. James Jakes Dallara/Mercedes + 6 Laps 23. Jules Bianchi Dallara/Mercedes + 6 Laps Not classified: Driver Make Laps Kazuya Oshima Dallara/Mercedes 19 Basil Shaaban Dallara/Mercedes 9 Sam Bird Dallara/Mercedes 0 Fastest lap: Bianchi, 42.599