Hulkenberg wins race one at Mugello
Nico Hulkenberg claimed his first F3 Euro Series win of the season after holding off the hard-charging Kodai Tsukakoshi at Mugello today
Hulkenberg converted pole position into the lead at the start, while Tsukakoshi dropped beind the German's ART Grand Prix team-mate Jules Bianchi on the run to the first corner, after Mucke Motorsport's Christian Vietoris stalled from third on the grid.
With Tsuakakoshi bottled up behind Bianchi, Hulkenberg quickly extended his lead until the Japanese passed Bianchi for second on the run to the first corner on lap four.
With no traffic in-front of him, Tsukakoshi quickly carved into Hulkenberg's advantage and on lap 11 attempted to pass him for the lead around the outside of the first corner. The Manor Motorsport driver lost the rear of his Dallara-Mercedes mid-corner, clipping the sidepod of Hulkenberg, and lost almost a second to the leader.
From there, Hulkenberg was able to maintain the gap to take victory ahead of Tsukakoshi and Bianchi.
"It was a big relief after the bad start to the season," said Hulkenberg, who picked up only two points at Hockenheim last month. "It's not easy this weekend because it has been so close.
"We had a strong race but Kodai was always very close behind and he never gave me the chance to relax. It's a good way to start my championship after what happened at Hockenheim."
Edoardo Mortara held off Prema's Renger van der Zande to take fourth, with Hockenheim race winner Mika Maki taking sixth place after Manor's Kazuya Oshima retired with a technical problem.
SG Formula's Yann Clairay will start from the front row of the grid in tomorrow's second race after finishing seventh, while Prema's Dani Clos passed Manor's Niall Breen to take reverse grid pole on the last lap.
Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1. Nico Hulkenberg ART D/M 36:35.388
2. Kodai Tsukakoshi Manor D/M +1.001
3. Jules Bianchi ART D/M +16.404
4. Edoardo Mortara Signature D/V +17.340
5. Renger van der Zande Prema D/M +18.377
6. Mika Maki Mucke D/M +21.521
7. Yann Clairay SG D/M +30.537
8. Dani Clos Prema D/M +31.518
9. Niall Breen Manor D/M +33.276
10. Erik Janis Mucke D/M +36.899
11. Franck Mailleux Signature D/V +38.104
12. James Jakes ART D/M +40.366
13. Henkie Waldschmidt SG D/M +40.623
14. Sam Bird Manor D/M +42.155
15. Richard Philippe Carlin D/M +43.788
16. Tom Dillmann SG D/M +45.510
17. Charlie Kimball Prema D/M +45.974
18. Rodolfo Gonzalez Carlin D/M +46.537
19. Michael Klein Jo Zeller D/M +49.461
20. Basil Shaaban HBR D/M +54.948
21. Stefano Coletti Signature D/V +56.271
22. Maximilian Gotz RC D/V +57.956
23. Jon Lancaster ART D/M +59.821
24. Jens Klingmann RC D/V +1:06.792
25. Jean-Karl Vernay Signature D/V +1:07.179
Not classified
Driver Team Car Laps
Kazuya Oshima Manor D/M 16 laps
Daniel Campos-Hull HBR D/M 16 Laps
Christian Vietoris Mucke D/M 16 Laps
Martin Plowman RC D/V 3 laps
Fastest lap, Vietoris 1:42.607 on lap 3
(D/M = Dallara Mercedes, D/V = Dallara Volkswagen)
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