NURBURGRING HAT-TRICK DELIGHTS ‘DRIVER OF WEEKEND’ HYLKEMA Dutch racing driver Bart Hylkema was named ‘Sunoco Driver of the Weekend’ at the Nurburgring on Sunday, 3rd July, off the back of a memorable hat-trick of Rookie Class race victories during the fifth event of the 2011 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series.The 21-year-old impressed throughout the meeting, locking-out the class pole position for each race and also competing strongly against a number of the faster International Class cars on his way to the three wins. In addition, he increased his Rookie Class championship advantage to 55 points.“It’s been a very good weekend”, said the T-Sport driver, “Three more wins is fantastic and it means we’ve increased our points lead again which always has to be the aim. Being given the Sunoco award too was a really nice way to finish our weekend in Germany.”Bart began the event strongly during  pre-event practice on Friday, 1st July, and then qualified comfortably clear in the Rookie Class to claim pole position once again – just 0.2 seconds shy of the International Class car ahead.Thanks to a consistently good performance in the session, coupled with a series of penalties for a few other drivers who committed yellow flag infringements, Bart lined up for round 13 on Saturday, 2nd July, a superb 13th on the grid overall.Despite not making one of his better starts, the Dutchman avoided a multi-car tangle at the first turn and held 14th position overall at the end of the opening lap. Although some of the International Class runners were able to move ahead over the next few laps, Bart maintained good pace and eventually took his 10th Rookie Class victory in 17th position overall.Win number 11 followed during Sunday’s 14th round but last lap, final corner contact from Kotaro Sakurai, which destroyed the rear wing on Bart’s Dallara Mugen-Honda, provided a major heart-in-mouth moment. Once again starting the race on the Rookie pole, Bart led throughout and was as high as 14th place by lap five but then had to give best to the International Class car of Hywel Lloyd.Holding 15th comfortably, a slight mistake on the last lap enabled Sakurai to close-in thanks to a good slipstream up the back straight but Bart held his line through the chicane. Even so, his Japanese rival attempted a pass which only resulted in him slamming into the back of Bart’s car, wrecking the rear wing. Luckily, the Rookie Class leader was able to cross the line still ahead to take the victory.Round 15 saw another great performance as he diced among several International Class competitors and posted very impressive lap times. The Safety Car was deployed on the ninth tour for a couple of laps but when the action resumed Bart was able to stay with the quicker current-specification cars.Having to defend his place hard due to the difference in straight-line speed, he raced with fantastic commitment to 17th position overall and his 12th Rookie Class victory of the season. In summary, the event couldn’t realistically have gone much better for the Dutchman.“I was very pleased with qualifying and Saturday’s race”, said Bart, “Having the pace to compete with the A class guys was great. My start wasn’t so good in the first race but thankfully there was a lot going on at the first corner and I managed to come through OK. From there I had a very good run.“Sunday morning’s race wasn’t easy as the tyres had gone but we were still able to take the class win and have a decent result. I made a very good start to race three, followed some A class cars and built up a good gap. When the Safety Car came out I lost that advantage and the balance of the car wasn’t as good so I decided to concentrate on bringing it home for the win.”Highlights of all of this weekend’s action at the Nurburgring will be screened across Europe on cable and digital satellite channel Motors TV with additional screenings in the UK on Channel 4 – visit www.motorstv.com and www.channel4.com for scheduling and further details.Paul Ricard HTTT in Le Castellet, France, is the next venue on the 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series calendar with rounds 16, 17 and 18 taking place a fortnight from now over the weekend 16th/17th July.Provisional 2011 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series ‘Rookie Class’ Standings (after Rd15):1st Bart Hylkema, 214pts

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