4th September 2006

Manor Motorsport’s Japanese pairing Kohei Hirate and Kazuki Nakajima each made welcome returns to the Formula 3 Euroseries podium at Zandvoort over the weekend, albeit in wildly contrasting circumstances.

Hirate’s success came during Saturday’s 13th round of the season, a solid drive from fifth on the grid to third place seeing the Toyota Driver Development Programme member climb onto the podium for the first time since round six at Oschersleben in May.

After a clean start to the 26-lap race, Hirate quickly moved into fourth position when championship challenger Sebastian Vettel went into the gravel at the first corner. Next in the Manor ace’s sights was Sebastien Buemi and on lap 19 he too made a costly error which enabled Hirate to move into a podium position.

Over the course of the remaining six laps, the Japanese driver put second-placed Giedo van der Garde under incredible pressure but the Dutchman just managed to keep Hirate at bay at the chequered flag by six 10ths of a second.

Third position enabled Hirate to move into a clear third place in the driver standings and after the race he commented: “Finally we’re back on the podium after such a long time! I am very happy with that and hopefully we will be able to continue this performance for the rest of the season.”

Argentinean team-mate Esteban Guerrieri drove strongly from 14th on the grid to claim eighth position and one valuable championship point while Nakajima endured a very difficult outing, ending the race uncharacteristically outside the top 20.

However, Nakajima would put the disappointment firmly behind him during Sunday’s 14th round of the season, an inspired tyre choice in changeable conditions providing the Japanese star with the opportunity to produce one of the best performances of his F3 Euroseries career.

Starting from a lowly 22nd on the grid as a result of the difficulties in round 13, a decision by Manor to fit Nakajima’s Dallara F305 chassis with slick tyres ahead of the second race of the weekend reaped superb rewards as he went on to make the most of a drying track to claim his third podium of the year.

The outstanding drive also marked Nakajima’s first appearance on the podium since his maiden category victory during round four of the season at the Lausitz EuroSpeedway.

At the start of round 14, Guerrieri led from pole while Hirate gained two positions on the opening lap to move into fourth place. Nakajima, meanwhile was already into 16th position as the race entered its second lap and a strong set of results certainly looked on the cards for the front-running Dinnington-based team.

As Nakajima continued to scythe his way through the mid-field and Guerrieri extended his lead at the front to almost three seconds by the end of the eighth lap, Hirate wasn’t enjoying the same fortune and began to slip down the order – eventually ending the race in 13th position.

By the end of lap 10, an absolutely flying Nakajima had moved into the top 10 and his relentless march towards the front showed no sign of abating. He had soon made his way into the top eight, a terrific performance in itself, but the Toyota-backed sensation wasn’t finished there and went on to claim his third career F3 Euroseries podium.

But for Guerrieri, the chance of victory sadly slipped away. After being passed by eventual race winner Charlie Kimball and Sebastian Vettel a little way past mid-distance, the Argentinean also lost out to the slick-shod Nakajima and crossed the line on lap 18 in fourth. Nonetheless, the result allowed him to close to within two points of Hirate.

Having started well in the wet conditions, Hirate endured a difficult second half of the race as the track began to dry fully and was disappointed to finish in 13th position as a brace of Zandvoort podiums had looked a distinct possibility.

For Nakajima though, the delight of finishing on the podium was clear to see. “On Saturday we still thought scoring points today would be very difficult”, he commented, “Third place is a dream result for me. Initially overtaking wasn’t easy but in the second half of the race it was better.”

Manor Motorsport maintains its grip on second position in the F3 Euroseries team standings following the weekend’s two races having extended its points total to 98.

The championship now prepares to make a welcome visit to Spain in three weeks, 23rd/24th September, for rounds 15 and 16 of the season at Barcelona’s world-renowned Circuit de Catalunya, home of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix.