Jerez de la Frontera – Juan Manuel Correa (ART Grand Prix) took part in the two test sessions carried out for the FIA F3 Championship at the Spanish circuit of Jerez de la Frontera, in the south of Spain. The American driver had his best performance on the track on Wednesday morning, when he set the seventh fastest time of the 30 participating drivers, 0.510 seconds behind Arthur Leclerc, who was the fastest on this last day.
For Juan Manuel, the inflammation that appeared in his left foot in the first two races in Bahrain, took its toll on him on Wednesday afternoon, and he was unable to perform at his best, as it bothered him more time to brake.
“I didn’t do many laps today due to the pain, but my intention is to be 100 per cent as soon as possible, although I am frustrated. During the time I’ve been on the track I’ve been competitive and it hasn’t been bad at all”, commented the driver from Quito at the end of the two days of testing.
As a summary, Juan Manuel reviewed what these two days have been in Jerez, with unusual weather in Andalusia, with rain both days and quite cool.
“We have finished two days of testing in Jerez in which we have had very bad weather, especially on Tuesday. Even this Wednesday morning we had to wait a long time to be able to put on the slicks”, commented Juan Manuel. “Overall it’s been a good day, but I’m still having problems with my left foot after the inflammation I suffered in Bahrain. I think I was lucky that the weather was so bad at the beginning, since I didn’t do many laps (59) and so I was able to recover somewhat on the first day and be better today”.
The last session on Wednesday afternoon was the fastest of the two days, especially due to the conditions of the track, where Juan Manuel finished 17th after those problems with his foot, after having been seventh in the morning. 106 laps to the Andalusian track, which means 470km.
Next week Juan Manuel has a lot of work ahead of him. It will start with two days of testing -April 11th and 12th- at the French circuit of Paul Ricard with the Prema team in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), with a car from the main category of the event, LMP2. Later he will participate in at least the first day of the second FIA F3 collective test, which will be held at the Montmeló circuit in Barcelona on April 15th and 16th. On the weekend -April 16th and 17th-, he will make his debut in the European Le Mans Series with his teammates, the Swiss Louis Deletraz and the Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg, at the wheel of the Prema number 9.
“I hope to be recovered for next week, which will be competition again. On the weekend, the 16th and 17th, the first ELMS race will be held, in which I will make my debut in this endurance category and there will also be an F3 test in Montmeló, circuits separated by just over 500km”.
