By: Prema Powerteam
July 17 2016
It’s been a day of 1-2 finishes for team Prema at Zandvoort. Lining-up at the Dutch venue for the sixth round of the FIA F.3 European Championship, the Italian squad confirmed their status of frontrunners and their reaction to yesterday post-qualifying downfall has been phenomenal. In race 1, Lance Stroll dominated from start to finish, passing team-mate and pole sitter Nick Cassidy at the start. In race 2, Cassidy grabbed his first win in the series in front of team-mate Maximilian Gunther.
They were both quick starters, beating pole sitter Callum Ilott. At the end of the day, Stroll increased his championship toll to 259 points as he keeps leading on Gunther (178) while Cassidy went up to fourth place (154). Ralf Aron also experienced a good race with a valuable sixth.
# 1 - Lance Stroll
“I knew that this race would be the only one this weekend in which I could score points, so I used my chance. At the start, I saw the gap on the outside, because Nick pulled over to the inside. Then, I braked relatively late and coming out of the corner, I was in front. Some five laps before the end, I then had a critical moment when a seagull flew over me so closely that I even had to pull my head in. This victory was very important to me, after I was excluded after second qualifying yesterday so I was forced to start race 2 from the back and I will be in the same situation in race 2”.
# 2 - Nick Cassidy
“Taking victory in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship is a really good feeling, I am overjoyed. This victory is for my team and for all those who are supporting me. So far, things haven’t always been going trouble-free for me this season, which was down to factors beyond my control and also beyond control of the team. Today, I already knew prior to the start that the first corner would probably be my only chance to overtake Callum, who was ahead of me on the grid. After that, my race wasn’t easy either, because Maximilian was quite quick behind me. Eventually, it was enough and I am really happy. Regarding race 1, I am lacking experience at this track, something I noticed at the start. I wanted to close the inside line, but I didn’t pay attention to the outside. Lance then simply caught me by surprise with his move on the outside. After that, I wasn’t able to match his speed and I concentrated on bringing second place home”.
# 16 - Ralf Aron
"Overall the day wasn't something special for me. In race 1 I lost a position in the start and tried to push the guy in front to do a mistake but couldn't make a move. race 2 I had a good start and in turn1 some contact with another driver. There was some overtaking but I was still P6. The last 10 laps were really difficult but I managed to keep my position. I want to thank the team for an amazing car and I will do my best to fight for the podium positions in the future."
# 17 - Maximilian Gunther
“In overall two good races for me. In the first race I have been in P4 after the start and later on defended this position against a driver with better tires behind me. This meant good points. In the second race my start was really good and I could gain one position at the start. Afterwards I had a really good speed and could drive the fastest laptime, but overtaking was never really possible because of the downforce I lost behind Nick. I'm already looking forward to the race tomorrow.”
Canadians In BOLD