Starting 24th in the first race after a difficult qualifying, in which the optimal use of tyres was crucial, Juan Manuel started a recovery that led him to finish tenth and start third in the second race. Everything indicated that the podium was within his reach, when another competitor hit him from behind at the exit of the third corner and ruined any hope of a good position, as he finished 24th. He will start in the same position for the third race, which will be held at 11.05am tomorrow, Sunday 4 July.
The first race of the weekend, which took place on Saturday morning, resulted in a fifteenth position for Juan Manuel. After several penalties were applied to some drivers, Juan Manuel was officially classified in tenth position, which gave him one point in the overall drivers’ standings, so a total of 9 points before the second race.
In the second race he started from third position and after a few laps in fourth place, he climbed back up to the provisional third step of the podium. He was driving in the leading group, in a very close race. The appearance of the safety car, which brought the field back together at the start of the race, was no obstacle for Juan Manuel to stay in the leading group. David Schumacher, nephew of the 7 times world champion, was leading the race with Juan Manuel solidly in third position. Just as the halfway point of the race approached, the driver following Juan Manuel made a risky manoeuvre at turn 3 and hit the ART of the American driver from behind, causing both cars to spin. Juan Manuel returned to the track in 24th place while the other driver had to retire.
A lost opportunity to get back on the podium and a good handful of points evaporated, but optimism must be maintained in a season of preparation for Juan Manuel’s return to F2 next season. Here are the driver’s comments:
“A positive Race 1, we made it back to P15 on track and then ended up finishing P10 and getting a point due to penalties which gave us a lot of hope for Race 2 since I was starting from P3 and I was really hoping a podium would be possible. I think based on the pace in Race 1 we knew it could be possible. In the end it didn’t work out and I was taken out while fighting for P3. A shame because we had the pace to fight for the podium, but I will take the point from Race 1 and focus now on Race 3 tomorrow where we will start once again from the back of the grid. I’ll try to enjoy and to learn and get experience out of it.”
SUNDAY, JULY 4TH
11h05: Formula 3 – Race 3 40 Min
