Walter Grubmüller collects the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend Award after a highly successful weekend at Hockenheim

Issued: 8 June 2009

Walter Grubmüller collects the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend Award after a highly successful weekend at Hockenheim

Walter Grubmüller was the delighted winner of the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend Award after his most successful meeting yet inBritish Formula 3 at Hockenheim over the weekend.

On Friday afternoon Walter qualified down in 8th for race 1, which was a surprise after the speed he had shown in free practice earlier in the day, when he was 5th in a closely-packed field behind Hitech team-mate, Renger van der Zande. Come the race, however, and Walter launched an attacking drive, which resulted in him taking 3rd and the final podium spot from Series leader, Daniel Ricciardo, on lap 12.

Qualifying for Race 2 on Saturday morning went altogether better, with Walter taking his second pole position of the season with a fine lap right at the end of the session on a drying track. The race itself was not until Sunday morning, but the track conditions were very similar.

After losing a race from pole position at Oulton Park in the opening meeting of the season, this time Walter made no mistake and led from lights to flag, making it all look very easy. After a while Van der Zande moved up to 2nd place behind him Once there, the Dutchman drove a defensive race to suppress the rest and allow Grubmüller to lead the field home at a fairly comfortable distance.

This was Walter’s first-ever win in British F3 and moves him up to 2nd in the Series points standing, behind Daniel Ricciardo, who has now had two fairly moderate weekends. Receiving the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend Award was the icing on the cake for Walter.

There is now a gap for the competitors in the Cooper Tyres British F3 International Series, because the next round will be not be held until Snetterton on July 4th/5th, but most of the leading drivers, including the Hitech pair, will be at Zandvoort in The Netherlands this weekend for the Tango Masters of Formula 3 meeting, when they go head-to-head with their rivals in the Formula 3 Euro Series.