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[Autumnpuma]

American Charlie Kimball (Signature-Plus) won the 14th season round of the Formula 3 Euro Series at Zandvoort in The Netherlands ahead of Sebastian Vettel (ASM Formule 3) and Kazuki Nakajima (Manor Motorsport). It is the first victory for an American driver in the world’s toughest junior racing series. On a drying track, Vettel showed a brave recovery that brought him from 24th place on the grid to second at the finish. In the points’ standings, he closed up to twelve points behind Paul di Resta (ASM Formule 3). The Scot finished 14th.

Sebastian Vettel opted for slick tyres and showed an inspired recovery. The Friday test driver of the BMW Sauber Formula 1 team overtook one opponent after another until he came up behind Charlie Kimball on lap seven. The runner-up from last year’s British Formula 3 championship was also on slicks and drove similar lap times as Vettel. Together, the two moved up to the front of the field. After 18 race laps, Kimball got the chequered flag 0.677 seconds ahead of Vettel and celebrated his maiden win in the Formula 3 Euro Series. It was also the first season win in this championship for his team Signature-Plus. Japanese Kazuki Nakajima made it all the way up from 22nd on the grid to finish third. Julian Theobald (SMS Seyffarth Motorsport) won the title in the Trophy for cars from 2002 till 2004 with his sixth victory in this category.

Dominick Muermans (Van Amersfoort Racing) was excluded from the meeting after a collision with Sebastian Vettel in the race on Saturday. However, as his team appealed, he was still allowed to start. Up to the final decision in this appeal case, his 20th place will not show up on any result list.

Charlie Kimball (Signature-Plus): “Today’s race was a gamble. With slicks, the first five laps were quite difficult. Then the team told me over the radio that I was catching up. Still, I drove cautiously. I am now especially happy as the first half of my season hasn’t been easy.”

Sebastian Vettel (ASM Formule 3): My start was rather poor, because I started from the less favourable side. On the first lap, it was extremely difficult staying on track with slicks. After that, it became much better and it showed that slicks were the right choice today. Too bad that I didn’t manage to win, but Charlie did really well in defending his position.”

Kazuki Nakajima (Manor Motorsport): Yesterday, we still thought that scoring points today would be very difficult. Third place is a dream result for me. Initially, overtaking wasn’t easy, but in the second half of the race, it was better.”