Joey scored a pair of dominant victories at Nurburgring
29.05.2006 by Harry Hogge
Joey scored a pair of dominant victories at Nurburgring, the home of the European Grand Prix at the weekend to re-claim the series points lead.
With wet but drying qualifying sessions resulting in typically mixed up grids, Joey Foster had to work hard for his success in both races but the rapid Cornishman showed why he is considered the series class act with some sensational overtaking manoeuvres clinching maximum points.
Taking European competition by storm in his first ever season in Formula Three, Joey is very quickly forging himself a big reputation on the continent this year.
Race 1
Starting from 6th position on the grid for race one, the 2003 Formula Ford Festival winner made up one place on the sprint to the first tight hairpin. From then on, he showed that his blue and yellow Lola was clearly destined to pick off the rest of the protagonists, despite the fact that Formula Three is considered one of the toughest formulas to overtake in.
"I got close to the battle for 3rd place between Van Der Zande and Hulkenberg", said Joey. "I was weighing them up, when they touched and ran wide, so that made it easy for me to get through. Then, I took Harald (HS Technik team mate, Schlegelmilch) which put me in position to chase (Riccardo) Azzoli. I got him at turn 4 and although he squeezed me slightly, it was quite easy to get the necessary traction out of the corner and get in to the lead."
Foster built up an impressive gap of just under 6 seconds to score his 4th win in what was only his 7th ever F3 race.
Race 2
With the qualifying session having mirrored that of the first with a drying track, timing and discipline were the order of the day to ensure a good starting position for the second race to be held on Sunday afternoon.
As a result, Joey qualified in 2nd place behind the similar Lola of Ferdinand Kool. However, despite a slow start he was soon scything through the field, coming from 4th place on the first lap to overtake Recardo Bruins and then Ho Pin Tung to claim 2nd place, before homing in on to the back of Kool's yellow Lola.
"As in the first race, the car was fantastic," said Foster after the race. "Ferdinand was driving well and was quick but on one lap he got baulked at the final corner and I managed to get a tow on him down to the hairpin. It was tight but I made it and held him off around the outside for the following left hander."
From there, Foster again pulled away to win by a comfortable 6 seconds, taking the extra point for the fastest lap of the race as he did so.
"It was an excellent weekend", understated the jovial 22 year old. "I have never been in a team and driven a car like the Lola. They are just so good. I am very grateful to (HS Technik team boss) Mr Hascic and the HS Technik team for having the faith in me. I am sure that there will be more success in the coming races and we will be working hard to ensure that we keep and extend the points lead that we now have."
With Ho-Pin Tung finishing just ahead of team mate Kool, the podium was an all Lola affair, the first time since 1993 that any constructor other than Dallara have taken the top 3 positions.
Lola F3 project manager, Adam Airey said of the weekend; "A 1-2-3 result is very satisfying. Joey did an exceptional job once again. We will return to Nurburgring in three weeks and aim to extend the points lead."
The next rounds of the series also takes place at the Nurburgring on 17/18 June when the series supports the world famous Nurburgring 24 Hours race.
RACE ONE RESULTS
| 1 | Joey Foster (GB) | HS Technik Lola-Spiess | 25m14.663s |
| 2 | Riccardo Azzoli (I) | Target Racing SLC-Spiess | 25m20.137s |
| 3 | Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT) | HS Technik Dallara-Spiess | 25m20.663s |
| 4 | Ferdinand Kool (NL) | JB Motorsport Lola-Spiess | 25m22.137s |
| 5 | Ho-Pin Tung (PRC/NL) | JB Motorsport Lola-Spiess | 25m24.028s |
| 6 | Cyndie Alleman (CH) | SMS Seyffarth Dallara Mercedes | 25m46.842s |
| 7 | Johannes Theobald (D) | Seyffarth Dallara-Mercedes | 25m57.847s |
| 8 | Norman Knop (D) | Team Leipert Dallara-Spiess | 25m59.457s |
| 9 | Natacha Gachnang (CH) | Bordoli Dallara-Spiess | 26m00.205 |
| 10 | Rolf Biland (D) | Team Schuler Dallara Toyota | 26m05.973s |
Fastest Lap: Ho-Pin Tung (PRC/NL) JB Motorsport Lola-Spiess 1m22.524s
RACE TWO RESULTS
| 1 | Joey Foster (GB) | HS Technik Lola-Spiess | 25m04.663s |
| 2 | Ho-Pin Tung (PRC/NL) | JB Motorsport Lola-Spiess | 25m10.667s |
| 3 | Ferdinand Kool (NL) | JB Motorsport Lola-Spiess | 25m13.804s |
| 4 | Renger Van Der Zande (NL) | Seyffarth Dallara Mercedes | 25m14.734s |
| 5 | Recardo Bruins (KOR) | Van Amersfort Dallara Spiess | 25m22.528s |
| 6 | Johannes Theobald (D) | Seyffarth Dallara-Mercedes | 25m24.065s |
| 7 | Riccardo Azzoli (I) | Target Racing SLC-Spiess | 25m24.408s |
| 8 | Nicolas Hulkenburg (D) | JK Racing Dallara Spiess | 25m26.420s |
| 9 | Cyndie Alleman (CH) | SMS Seyffarth Dallara Mercedes | 25m27.041s |
| 10 | Natacha Gachnang (CH) | Bordoli Dallara-Spiess | 25m27.314s |
Fastest Lap: Joey Foster (GB) HS Technik Lola-Spiess 1m22.634s
CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS AFTER 4 ROUNDS
| 1 | Joey Foster (GB) | 59pts |
| 2 | Ho Pin Tung (PRC/NL) | 54pts |
| 3 | Ferdinand Kool (NL) | 41pts |
| 4 | Nicolas Hulkenburg (D) | 40pts |
| 5 | Riccardo Azzoli (I) | 32pts |