For Nicolas Armindo it was a weekend made to measure. Taking up the race from pole position, the Frenchman put in his usual rocket start to head the field and gradually extended his lead to the flag. Pocketing 20 points for his win from round four of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland on Nuremberg's Norisring circuit, the Frenchman moved into first overall in the championship. Driving for Hermes Attempto Racing, the 28-year-old profited from the previous leader's bad luck. For the first time, Nick Tandy from Great Britain yielded zero points when his Konrad Motorsport 911 GT3 Cup suffered tyre damage.

Two other Norisring specialists celebrated their podium results alongside the ecstatic Frenchman, for whom this was his seventh race on the street track. For Uwe Alzen, two-time champion of Germany's fastest brand trophy series, second position marked a breakthrough in his somewhat mixed start to the season. Competing for Herberth Motorsport PZ Olympiapark, the German is the only driver other than Armindo in the 20-strong field who already won on the Norisring - now 42-years-old, Alzen triumphed here in 1992 before going on to claim the championship title. Armindo's last Norisring victory was just two years ago.

Experience was the trump card in qualifying for the fourth round of the Carrera Cup Deutschland. With a lap time of 51.837 seconds on the short 2.3 kilometre circuit, Nicolas Armindo planted his 911 GT3 Cup at the head of the field by a clear margin. This marks the second straight pole position for the 28-year-old Frenchman driving for the Hermes Attempto Racing squad, who claimed a flag-to-flag victory on the bumpy, tricky street circuit in Nuremberg two years ago. Taking up the race alongside Armindo on the front row is another Norisring specialist: the two-time Carrera Cup champion Uwe Alzen (Germany, Herberth Motorsport PZ Olympiapark) succeeded in securing his best qualifying result of the season in a 35 degree air temperature and a 52 degree asphalt temperature.

The pole position is even more important for Armindo because his greatest rival in the fight for the title didn't manage to secure a front row grid position. Rookie and points' leader Nick Tandy (Great Britain, Konrad Motorsport) has already pocketed two pole positions and two victories from the first two rounds but had to settle for fourth on the grid. In contrast to Armindo and Alzen, Tandy has raced just once on the Nuremberg circuit, where he achieved 20th in a single-seater.

Holding a clear points' lead, René Rast from Germany takes off into the second half of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup season on 11 July on the time-honoured Silverstone Circuit. Driving a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup for Al Faisal Lechner Racing, Rast has scored four wins so far this season. His trip to the British Isles brings back the very best memories: In Silverstone last year, he celebrated his first ever victory in the world's fastest international brand trophy series.

"With four wins so far we are really in a very good position for the title," says the reigning vice-champion, who was only beaten at Barcelona this year. "But we can't yet say the title is in the bag, our points' advantage is simply not yet large enough."

The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR is the most successful GT racer of the season in the American Le Mans Series. After taking home wins from Long Beach and Laguna Seca, Porsche works drivers Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) travel as points' leaders to Salt Lake City, where round four of the race series with the world's fastest sportscars takes place on 11 July.

"The track suits us. The slower corners require a lot of traction and for the quicker ones we've got the necessary downforce," says Joerg Bergmeister about the 4.905 kilometre circuit in Miller Motorsports Park, a massive motorsport complex on the outskirts of the Olympic city of 2002. Temperatures of well over 30 degrees Celsius are expected for race day. "That takes its toll on the tyres. You have to look after them otherwise it gets difficult," says the winner from last year, who feels he has good chances to secure his third win of the season. "Last year we had everything under control. And the tests we conducted here recently ran very smoothly. Still, we have to expect that our opponents have made progress as well."

The Formula One Teams Association announced today that Formula One has inaugurated a comprehensive and externally audited carbon emissions reduction programme. In order to conduct the analysis that has informed the programme, FOTA commissioned the world-respected environmental research analysis organisation, Trucost, which has for several months been (a) researching and analysing the full range of activities performed by and within Formula One teams and their suppliers, and (b) advising FOTA re measures that will reduce carbon emissions now and in the future.

Trucost's research and analysis shows that the carbon emissions caused by the testing and racing of Formula One cars is a small proportion of the total carbon emissions generated by Formula One as a whole, but it is important to emphasise that this research and analysis has encompassed Formula One's entire supply chain.

Formula 1 European Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

1. Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull), 1h40m29.571s
2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), 1h40m34.613s
3. Jenson BUTTON (McLaren), 1h40m37.229s

TV UNILATERALS

Q: Sebastian, fourth time of asking and you finally convert one of those poles into a race win.
Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it is about time I would say. It wasn't the easiest way so far but what happened, happened. We cannot change it but it is good to be back and on a circuit where we didn't expect to be that strong, to be quick enough all the time in the race to slightly pull away, find the gap, and then carry the car home. It wasn't as easy as expected. When I saw the safety car board it was just on the main straight and I thought this will be tough as the cars that follow might get a stop for free. But I was lucky the first couple of cars were in the same situation that I was and after the safety car I had a huge lock up into last corner trying to brake as late as I could. The tyres when you go around slowly and after the pit stop you never really have the chance to bring them up to temperature. They were colder than I expected and a big lock up but I could stay in front. After that I had a bit of a flat spot but it was alright. Obviously a lot of laps to do but I tried not to do push too hard. When I got the message that Lewis had to go to the pits to get his drive-through I backed off a bit and finally we are back here. It is good to get a lot of points. It is good for the championship and very pleased with today.