Norisring race 1: Kubica boxes clever
It might have been his first race of the season, but you'd never have guessed it. Poland's Robert Kubica ignored the five fractures in his arm, sustained in a pre-season road accident, to score victory in the opening Formula 3 Euroseries race of the weekend at the Norisring
ASM duo Alexandre Premat and Olivier Pla locked out the front row, but Kubica stated his intent with an optimistic lunge at the first corner that briefly grabbed the lead, but he ran wide and allowed Pla to take up the running. Kubica then made another mistake under brakes at the first corner a few laps later, but aggressively held on to his second place from Premat, allowing Pla some breathing space.
Kubica (PREMA Powerteam) wasn't to be denied, however, and caught up with Pla once more. He took the lead with a classy move that began around the outside of turn 1, which gave him the inside line for turn 2. Once ahead, he galloped away, allowing the ASM duo to battle out the remaining podium positions.
Well, that's what should have happened, but Premat punted both himself and Pla into a spin at the first corner on lap 13 (unlucky for them), which allowed Bernhard Auinger (TME) into second place. But he coasted to a halt with his car on fire with just seven laps to go, handing second place to Timo Glock (KMS), who made a terrible start from fourth on the grid and had dropped down to eighth on the opening lap.
Pla recovered to take third, just holding off a charging Ryan Briscoe (PREMA), who started 13th after his best qualifying time was disallowed for a yellow flag infringement this morning. Fabio Carbone finished fifth, despite racing with half a front wing for most of the event, with his Signature team-mate Nicolas Lapierre coming home in sixth.
1 Robert Kubica (Prema Powerteam) Dallara-Opel 35 laps
2 Timo Glock (KMS) Dallara-Opel +4.155s
3 Olivier Pla (ASM) Dallara-Mercedes +5.370s
4 Ryan Briscoe (Prema Powerteam) Dallara-Opel +5.450s
5 Fabio Carbone (Siganture) Dallara-Renault +8.730s
6 Nicolas Lapierre (Signature) Dallara-Renault +20.057s
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