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Next stop on the 2008 Formula 3 Euroseries calendar is a visit to Zandvoort in the Netherlands two weeks from now on 12th/13th July.

NORISRING PODIUM FOR MANOR ACE TSUKAKOSHI

Manor Motorsport’s Koudai Tsukakoshi achieved his, and the team’s, second podium finish of the 2008 Formula 3 Euroseries at the Norisring in Germany over the weekend, 28th/29th June in Round 7 of the Championship.

Sadly for the Honda Racing backed driver, he couldn't reproduce the same form on Sunday in Round 8 after he was forced to retire from the race on the opening lap following a multi-car pile-up at the notorious Grundig Hairpin. 

Compatriot Kazuya Oshima was the best placed Manor driver in the second race, the Toyota Development Programme racer achieving a top seven finish just 0.3secs ahead of British team-mate Sam Bird. Northern Ireland’s Niall Breen finished the race in 17th position. 

Oshima had battled hard in Saturday’s seventh round with a fighting climb through the order from 26th on the grid to 13th at the chequered flag. Again, he was immediately followed over the line by Bird with Breen taking 24th position. 

Lining up an excellent third on the grid for round seven, Tsukakoshi benefited from a mistake from Mika Maki on the opening lap when the Finn outbraked himself into the Grundig Hairpin and then, soon after, collided with Jules Bianchi. 

Throughout the remainder of the race, the Manor star’s second place never looked in doubt but he didn’t quite have the grip from his tyres to catch eventual race winner, Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg. 

Bird gained four positions in the race to finish in 14th place but, other than Tsukakoshi, Oshima was the star Manor driver, racing from 26th on the grid to 13th position at the chequered flag. Breen, who started 29th, climbed five places to 24th. 

Commenting on his round seven podium, Tsukakoshi said: “I had a good start and benefited from the collision in front of me. I had a little lack of grip and this is why Nico Hulkenberg was just too quick for me.” 

Chaotic scenes dominated the start of the eighth round, red flags shown on the opening lap after a multi-car pile-up. Eliminating Tsukakoshi from the reckoning, Oshima took up the mantle of Manor’s quickest driver by racing strongly to a top seven result during the re-started encounter. 

Further incidents later in the race resulted in an early cessation but before the contest was ended, Bird had followed Oshima’s progress closely into eighth and Breen finished the outing in 17th position. 

At the conclusion of the Norisring races, Tsukakoshi is Manor’s highest driver in the championship standings in sixth place on 16 points, Breen and Bird are tied in 18th position on one point each and Oshima is yet to score.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS GO ASTRAY FOR MANOR AT PAU 

Formula 3 Euroseries team Manor Motorsport had a weekend to forget during the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2008 F3 Euroseries at the Pau street circuit with potential points finishes all going astray in very unfortunate circumstances. 

Away from its regular support slot on the DTM package, the F3 Euroseries competed alongside the World Touring Car Championship at the prestigious and challenging street circuit – the first time the pan-European F3 category has raced at the Pyrenees situated venue since 2005. 

Round five had two Safety Car periods after a number of accidents and incidents took place in tricky, drying conditions – just 10 of the 30 cars which started the race actually made it through to the chequered flag. 

Kazuya Oshima was the only Manor driver to finish the race, having started down in 28th on the grid he fought through to 10th position. Japanese countryman Koudai Tsukakoshi was classified in 11th place, Niall Breen was 13th and Sam Bird was forced to retire on his 18th lap after getting caught up in an accident ahead. 

Manor team boss John Booth explains: “With just a few minutes to go everything looked rosy for us, we had three cars in the top eight and looked good for some points. The track was drying from the start so everyone was on slicks but off-line it was wet and a lot of drivers were caught out by that. With only 10 cars finishing, it shows what it was like. 

“Sam was taken out by two cars crashing in-front of him, Niall went off on the bad damp patch that caught out a lot of front-runners and then Koudai had a problem with his brakes. Kazuya did well to come through from so far down the grid and to stay out of trouble. It was one of the most incident-packed races I’ve ever seen.” 

Round six was also badly affected by the weather and was actually started behind the Safety Car. Beginning and finishing in 10th place, Oshima was again Manor’s best placed runner with Bird climbing from 16th on the grid to 11th at the chequered flag and Tsukakoshi slipping back to 18th position. Breen, meanwhile, retired on lap 15. 

Booth added: “This weekend certainly wasn’t one to remember but it was so full of incident, it was always going to be a bit of a lottery. We’re looking forward to the next two rounds now where we aim to be back challenging for the podium. It’s been a tough start to the year but we’re remaining positive." 

TSUKAKOSHI CLAIMS MANOR’S FIRST F3 PODIUM OF 2008

Honda racing backed Japanese star Koudai Tsukakoshi produced a superb performance during round three of the 2008 Formula 3 Euroseries at Mugello in Italy over the weekend, 3rd/4th May, to secure Dinnington based Manor Motorsport’s first podium of the year. 

The 21-year-old qualified on the front row of the grid for the Saturday race with a time of 1m 41.609 seconds and he shadowed eventual race winner Nico Hulkenberg all the way to the flag, setting the second fastest race lap in the process of 1m 43.115 seconds. 

“It was a hard race but the balance of my car has been great throughout the weekend so I must thank the team”, said Tsukakoshi, “I am really happy with my maiden podium in the Formula 3 Euro Series.” 

In Sunday’s round four, Irishman Niall Breen secured his first points finish of the season with sixth place. As the top Manor driver on the day, Breen has taken a lot of encouragement from the result as he gets more and more adjusted to the differences between British F3 – where he raced in 2007 – and the F3 Euroseries. 

Duelling with team-mate Tsukakoshi for the final point, he made his move on lap 10 and then pressurised Nico Hulkenberg. Breen wasn’t able to find a way through but he did post the second fastest race lap of any driver with a time of 1m 42.982 seconds – along with race winner Mika Maki he was the only racer to lap under the 1m 43 second barrier. 

At the finish of round four, a blanket could literally have covered Manor team-mates Breen, Tsukakoshi and Sam Bird in sixth, seventh and eighth positions. With the Japanese racer just half a second shy of Breen, Bird was even closer to the tail of Tsukakoshi over the line. Bird’s drive from 14th on the grid was particularly impressive. 

Toyota Development Programme member Kazuya Oshima, who celebrated his 21st birthday last Wednesday, ended the second encounter in 18th position having started down in 26th place on the grid. 

Other than Tsukakoshi’s superb round three podium result, Breen finished in ninth place, tantalisingly just 1.7 seconds shy of the points, and therefore just missed out too on a reverse grid pole position start for Sunday’s race. 

Bird ended round three in 14th place, having started in 17th, while Oshima was classified five laps down after having problems with a broken exhaust. 

Speaking on the weekend’s action at Mugello, Manor Motorsport owner John Booth said: “We’re delighted Koudai got onto the podium during the first race, we know we’re capable of that kind of performance and hopefully more results like that will follow during the remainder of the season. 

“All in all it wasn’t a bad weekend, qualifying could have gone better but all four of our lads showed good pace in race trim and didn’t do a bad job at all. The street circuit at Pau in France is the next race a month from now, qualifying well there will be absolutely crucial so hopefully it’ll go well for us.” 

As-live replays of the weekend’s two F3 Euroseries races will be shown on cable and digital satellite channel Motors TV at 23.00 tonight, Tuesday, 6th May. Check listings details of subsequent re-runs. 

BIRD SECURES MAIDEN F3 EUROSERIES POINTS FINISH

Manor Motorsport’s Sam Bird achieved his first Formula 3 Euroseries points finish during only his second race in the category at Hockenheim in Germany yesterday, Sunday, 13th April, the highlight of an otherwise trying weekend for the Dinnington based team. 

The recently named British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) ‘Superstar’ was certainly Manor’s stand-out performer during the season opening event and having finished 10th during round one on Saturday, 12th April, he went on to race strongly to a sixth place finish in the second encounter, securing in the process his first championship point.  

Qualifying proved to be key to the outcome of the weekend and, very unfortunately, all four Manor drivers experienced nothing but bad luck. Scheduled to take place on Friday afternoon, 11th April, the session was postponed until Saturday due to heavy rain. 

When qualifying did finally take place, it was on a rapidly drying track and those drivers taking the chequered flag at the end of the session were always going to be quickest. 

With just a few minutes remaining the team had three cars inside the top 10 but the problem came on each runner’s final lap – slower cars on slick tyres baulking the Manor drivers as they pushed for fast times and resulting in the quartet being much further down the grid than their genuine pace would have allowed. 

Toyota Development Programme-backed Kazuya Oshima qualified in 20th position for round one, Honda Racing supported Koudai Tsukakoshi was 22nd, Bird was classified 23rd and Irishman Niall Breen qualified 24th. 

Obviously a very difficult situation for the Manor team, the races at least did offer some good news with Bird and Tsukakoshi both running strongly to finish in 10th and 13th positions respectively. Breen ended the race in 19th while Oshima was forced to retire on the fifth lap of 23. 

For race two, Bird raced well to his top six result and was actually held up by fifth placed Yann Clairay for a number of laps, taking the chequered flag just half a second behind the Frenchman.  

Tsukakoshi climbed from 13th on the grid to finish in ninth position, just four seconds shy of the points, while Breen and Oshima ended round two in 19th and 20th. The finishing positions actually belied their pace, Breens’s best lap of 1m 34.596 seconds comparable with team-mate Bird’s quickest time of 1m 34.569 seconds. 

Likewise, Oshima’s fastest race lap in round two was just 0.39 seconds slower than that managed by Tsukakoshi a full 11 places further up the order. Without the misfortune of the qualifying session, the team would have undoubtedly scored more points.  

Looking back on what can only be described as a trying weekend, Manor Motorsport team owner John Booth said: “Qualifying was a real problem, none of our guys could get a clear lap right at the end and they lost huge amounts of time. It was a fast drying track, whoever was there at the end with quick laps was always going to be at the sharp end. 

“We know for sure Sam would have been fourth quickest without the traffic but all of our lads had problems. When they came up behind the slower cars on their fast laps they were completely snookered, nothing they could do.” 

Booth added: “Nonetheless, they all fought hard and the race pace was actually very good, certainly a match for the guys running at the front. If qualifying had been a different story we’d have been in with a strong chance of some very good results. There are certainly far more positives than negatives to take from the weekend. 

“It’s unfortunate but we’re focusing instead on the next two races at Mugello. We won there last year so I see no reason why our guys can’t be on top form again to challenge for podiums. We’ll go testing before then but we haven’t decided where just yet, it’ll be within the next couple of weeks though.” 

Coverage of the opening two rounds of the 2008 F3 Euroseries will be replayed as live on digital satellite and cable channel Motors TV this evening, Monday, 14th April, at 19.00 and then again on Wednesday, 16th April, at 05.00. For further details of additional broadcasts please check listings. 

Rounds three and four of the championship will take place three weeks from now on 3rd/4th May at Mugello in Italy.