Nico Hulkenberg has secured his first win of the F3 Euroseries season after converting his pole position at Mugello into victory in race one.
The ART Grand Prix man made the best start when the race kicked off to lead into the first corner and despite the best efforts of fellow front-row starter Koudai Tsukakoshi, the German held on to secure victory by little more than a second.
“Today, it wasn't an easy win,” he said. “Tsukakoshi kept me under pressure all the time so that I didn't have any chance to relax even once. In this race, I had to remain focussed one hundred percent in order not to make any mistakes. After the problems I had in the season opener at Hockenheim, today's victory is a great result.”
The top two finished well clear of the third placed man, as rookie driver Jules Bianchi secured his place on the podium; marking the first time that the ART man had finished inside the top three. He managed to hold off the challenge of Edoardo Mortara en-route to the place having run in second place in the early stages and was understandably happy with the result.
“I had a good start and, bar some minor problems with my car, I had a good race, too,” he said. “Accordingly, third place is all right, that was all I could manage today. My first podium in only my third race in the Formula 3 Euro Series is a great result.”
Mortara settled for fourth as the leading Volkswagen driver, with Renger van der Zande and Hockenheim race winner Mika Maki rounding out the top six. Yann Clairay was seventh, while Prema Powerteam racer Dani Clos secured pole for race two under the reverse grid rules by finishing eighth following a late pass on Irish driver Niall Breen.
The former British F3 racer took ninth at the flag, with Erik Janis rounding out the top ten.
The race saw only one driver fail to be classified with Martin Plowman managing just three laps, although there was disappointment for Christian Vietoris who having qualified in third place, stalled on the grid and then tangled with Daniel Campos-Hull while trying to come back through the field and ended up in the gravel with just five laps remaining.
![ART Grand Prix star and 2007 F3 Euroseries Champion Romain Grosjean in testing ahead of the inaugural GP2 Asia Series in Dubai [pic credit: GP2 Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/427349.jpg)
