Second season victory for Buemi

Swiss driver Sébastien Buemi (MÃ¼cke Motorsport) claimed victory in the 18th season round of the Formula 3 Euro Series at the 3.636 kilometres long Circuit Paul Armagnac. Kamui Kobayashi (ASM Formule 3) and Nico HÃ¼lkenberg (ASM Formule 3) finished second and third respectively in the race at Nogaro. Points leader Romain Grosjean (ASM Formule 3) didn’t finish any better than fifth and thus failed in deciding the title race early. With two rounds to go, he has a seven points’ margin over Buemi, who is his only remaining rival.

From fifth position on the grid, Buemi had a good start and was already second after the opening lap. On lap 13, he took the lead as erstwhile leader, Italian Edoardo Mortara (Signature-Plus) came in for a drive-through penalty because of a jump start. Until taking the checkered flag after 29 laps, the MÃ¼cke Motorsport driver remained under continuous pressure from Kobayashi. However, the 18-year old Swiss successfully held off all attacks and just drove his second victory of the season home ahead of the Japanese.

Sébastien Buemi (MÃ¼cke Motorsport): “I had a good start but I couldn’t keep up with Mortara. I took the lead as he came in for his penalty. It was a very difficult race, because Kobayashi kept putting me under pressure and I couldn’t make any mistakes. This victory is very important for me. Now, the battle for the title will be decided at Hockenheim."

Kamui Kobayashi (ASM Formule 3): “It was a nice race that was real fun. I was faster than Buemi and tried to overtake him many times. However, there is only one place here where you can do so. Towards the end, I didn’t take all the risk anymore because I didn’t want to jeopardize my podium finish."

Nico HÃ¼lkenberg (ASM Formule 3): “I had a great view of the battle that was going on in front of me between the two leaders. Unfortunately, they didn’t make any mistakes. Still, climbing up from sixth on the grid to third is quite a good performance."

F3 Euroseries standings (after round 18 of 20):

1. Romain Grosjean 92
2. Sebastian Buemi 85
3. Nico Hulkenberg 62
4. Kamui Kobayashi 55

Race Results

POS NO NAME LAPS GAP
1 7 Sébastien BUEMI 29
2 1 Kamui KOBAYASHI 29 0.488
3 19 Nico HÃœLKENBERG 29 1.181
4 9 Jean Karl VERNAY 29 2.475
5 2 Romain GROSJEAN 29 3.038
6 10 Yann CLAIRAY 29 4.541
7 22 Yelmer BUURMAN 29 5.108
8 24 Edoardo MORTARA 29 5.871
9 31 Maximilian GÃ-TZ 29 6.339
10 23 Dani CLOS 29 7.194
11 26 Harald SCHLEGELMILCH 29 7.653
12 32 Jonathan SUMMERTON 29 8.349
13 12 Tim SANDTLER 29 9.159
14 16 Renger van der ZANDE 29 9.903
15 6 Filip SALAQUARDA 29 10.649
16 21 Cyndie ALLEMANN 29 14.532
17 18 Michael PATRIZI 29 20.940
18 3 Franck MAILLEUX 29 21.468
19 20 Tom DILLMANN 29 23.376
20 5 Sergey AFANASIEV 29 36.987
21 28 Marco HOLZER 29 43.047
22 30 Basil SHAABAN 29 50.397
23 8 Edoardo PISCOPO 27 2 LAPS