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Race: Carbone takes maiden win

Brazilian Fabio Carbone picked the perfect venue to claim his first F3 win by taking a lights-to-flag victory in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort

Carbone made an excellent getaway to lead into Tarzan for the start of the first lap and although he was never headed throughout the rest of the race nor did he manage to pull out a substantial lead over the chasing pack.

By the end Carbone's winning margin was a mere 1.6s and it may have been a different story had Tristan Gommendy kept it on the island for the whole race. The Frenchman got the jump on team-mate Olivier Pla to take second into the first corner, but conceded the place - and third to Heikki Kovalainen - when he made a mistake on lap eight.

A well-judged move saw him retake the Finn six laps later, but although he clearly had the legs of Pla there was never the opportunity to make a move.

Ronnie Bremer drove a solid but quiet race to take fifth, but behind him there was a huge battle for sixth. Before the race even started there were fireworks with Dutchmen Robert Doornbus and Stefan de Groot colliding on the warm-up lap. De Groot was forced to start from the pitlane after damaging his front wing in the impact.

Bruno Besson eventually took the place, but his cause was aided further when German F3 frontrunners Frank Diefenbacher and Kousuke Matsuura ended their runs in the gravel. A mistake by the Japanese gave Diefenbacher a whiff of an opportunity heading into Tarzan but the door was firmly closed and collision inevitable forcing both drivers out.

British F3 championship leader Robbie Kerr was seventh but on a day when Renault-powered cars ruled the roost he was second only to Bremer in the 'Mugen race'. He was followed home by the top German series entrant, Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Arguably the driver of the day was Frenchman Bruce Jouanny. After qualifying a disappointing 20th he drove a storming race, setting fastest lap on his way to an excellent ninth place.

James Courtney struggled with his rear tyres going off and the after effects of his Monza smash and came home 10th.

Fabio Carbone Fortec Dallara-Renault
Olivier Pla ASM Dallara-Renault
Tristan Gommendy ASM Dallara-Renault
Heikki Kovalainen Fortec Dallara-Renault
Ronnie Bremer Manor Dallara-Mugen
Bruno Besson Saulnier Dallara-Renault
Robbie Kerr ADR Dallara-Mugen
Vitantonio Liuzzi BSR Dallara-Opel
Bruce Jouanny Promatecme Dallara-Mugen
James Courtney Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen

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