Driving his Kumho-shod ART-prepared Dallara-Mercedes at Zandvoort on June 6, Valtteri Bottas became the first person ever to successfully defend the Masters of Formula 3 title – the most important race of the European F3 season, supported by Kumho Tyres since 2002.
Pre-race rain caused the final to start under the pace car. Tyre choice was clearly going to be crucial and Spaniard Roberto Merhi took an early lead, having been the fastest qualifier to opt for Kumho wets. It proved to be the wrong call, however, and as the rain ceased and the track dried out, he was quickly passed by pole sitter Alexander Sims and then Bottas, who were among those running slicks. Bottas assumed the lead from his team-mate soon afterwards – the position he was to hold to the end. The final order for the podium was Bottas, Sims and Marco Wittmann.
Said Bottas, “It was a tough race, but now I am really happy. Winning the masters for the second time was my goal for this weekend. Slicks turned out to be the right choice. It was close once or twice while lapping the other drivers, but that’s part of the game.”
The Kumho fastest lap award was won by Jean-Eric Vergne who finished in fourth place and was one of six top 10 finishers to come from the British F3 Series. YN Byun, President of Kumho Tire Europe, presented the trophies for fastest lap and third place.
The event was attended by 43,000 people – the largest Masters crowd for several years. They were not only treated to excellent F3 racing but some hot demo laps by Red Bull F1 ace Sebastian Vettel (a planned crack at the outright circuit record proved impossible due to the conditions), who also visited the starting grid and presented the winner’s trophy. There was also a thrilling flying display around Zandvoort’s start/finish straight by former Red Bull air race pilot Frank Versteegh.
Said Kumho’s European Motorsport Manager, Steve Thompson, “To ensure all competitors started with equal opportunity, we provided a unique batch of tyres for the meeting. The specification was completely different to that- used in the F3 Euro Series and included wider 200/550R13 front covers.”
Kumho’s position as the official Masters of F3 tyre supplier will continue until at least 2011. All cars must compete on Kumho ECSTA racing tyres Depending on the weather, either S700 (dry) slicks or W700 (wet) grooved tyres are fitted – a requirement of over 1,000 tyres all told. Kumho is also the official tyre supplier to the F3 Euro Series, widely acknowledged as the best and most challenging Formula 3 series in the world.
