7th August 2005

Manor Motorsport made the headlines during qualifying for round 13 of the 2005 Formula 3 Euroseries at the Nurburgring over the weekend, after locking out the front row of the grid and totally outpacing the all-conquering ASM outfit.

But what began as a stunning weekend for Manor’s Formula 3 Euroseries operation ended with a nightmare scenario when team-mates Paul Di Resta (Bathgate, West Lothian) and Lucas Tucci Di Grassi (Sao Paulo, Brazil) collided at the first corner of the second of the meeting's races.

During both of the weekend’s qualifying sessions, Manor managed what no other team has been able to do this year in outpacing the all-conquering ASM team of championship leader Lewis Hamilton – who, of course, won the 2003 Formula Renault UK title with Manor and took a race win with the team in his first season of F3 Euroseries last year.

For Saturday’s round 13, Di Resta grabbed his second pole position of the season in the final minute of qualifying with a time of 1m 22.463 seconds – all the more impressive considering it was his first ever time at the Nurburgring. Di Grassi, meanwhile, qualified alongside him on the front row.

In the race, Di Grassi finished in second position behind ASM’s German driver Adrian Sutil while Di Resta was classified last, a lap down on the leaders, having collided with Hamilton on lap one. However, the teenager did set the fastest lap with a time of 1m 23.147 seconds.

Qualifying for round 14 saw Di Grassi seize pole position, the second time he has achieved the top spot on the grid in 2005, with Hamilton alongside him and Di Resta setting the third fastest time. Sadly, the opening lap collision between the two Manor team-mates resulted in neither finishing the race, which was won by Hamilton.

Commenting on the weekend, team boss John Booth said: “We’re devastated with what happened in the second race, especially after being so competitive throughout qualifying. Both Lucas and Paul underlined how much progress we’ve made; we definitely have the pace to challenge at the front for race wins.

“We need to take positives away from this weekend and it was great to see Lucas on the podium in the first race. It was such a shame for the weekend to end how it did but we must focus on how quick we were in qualifying and realise we have the ability to perform like this throughout the remainder of the season.”

Manor Motorsport will be back in action on the weekend of Saturday, 27th August, and Sunday, 28th August, when the Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin resumes at Knockhill Circuit, near Fife in Scotland, and the F3 Euroseries competitors reconvene at Zandvoort in the Netherlands for rounds 15 and 16 of the 2005 season.