Race Report
Formula 1 Grand Prix de France 2018
GP3 SERIES
Circuit: Le Castellet (F), Length 5.821 km, 22nd – 24th June 2018, Rounds 3 & 4
www.circuitpaulricard.com
JENZER MOTORSPORT 2018:
Tatiana Calderon (COL), Juan Manuel Correa (USA) and David Beckmann (D)
Correa and Beckmann in the Top Ten at Le Castellet
The GP3 Series teams met for the second event of the season as they ran as part of the Formula One programme at the French Grand Prix 2018, held at Le Castellet on the historic Paul Ricard Circuit. The sun shone for most of the weekend, only vanishing briefly as a heavy thunderstorm passed over the area on Saturday afternoon. In great conditions it was very obvious just how close the competition is within the highly competitive GP3 Series field.
Race One Qualifying
Friday, 22/06/18, 18.50 – 19.20, Weather: Sunny, 26°C
In the morning there was a free practice session, and after a six-week break since the last race, our drivers gave it their best shot. For Juan Manuel, the session did not last long, because a sensor on the clutch failed, and he had to abandon his vehicle. Tatiana was fastest of the team, reaching 13th place. David was 15th.
Qualification followed late in the afternoon and Tatiana again finished in 13th place despite having reduced the gap to the top to 0.723 seconds. David was 14th and Juan Manuel finished 16th. The times were very close across the field, with 18 drivers within a second of the best time.
Race One Grid | |||
---|---|---|---|
1st | Dorian Boccolacci (F) | MP Motorsport | 1:50.615 |
2nd | Anthoine Hubert (F) | ART | 1:50.697 |
3rd | Giuliano Alesi (F) | Trident | 1:50.708 |
13th | Tatiana Calderon (COL) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:51.338 |
14th | David Beckmann (D) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:51.409 |
16th | Juan Manuel Correa (USA) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:51.470 |
GP3 Series
Race One (40 Minutes)
Saturday, 12/05/18, 10.15, Weather: Sunny, 24°C
The start went well though Tatiana initially lost a place to Tveter, though she got it back almost immediately with a solid overtaking manoeuvre to defend her 13th place. A few laps later, she made it past Lundgaard, which put her in 12th and was soon on the tail of the hard-battling pair of Hughes and Ilott, who were in pursuit of Mawson and his 9th place. Juan Manuel was also on his way to the front, when he too managed to pass Tveter and Lundgaard, and was thus right behind Tatiana in 13th place. David made contact with another competitor shortly after the start, damaging his front wing and had to come into the pits to have the part replaced. By the time he re-joined he was a long way behind the rest of the field. He then drove lap after lap setting virtually identical times to the leaders Boccolacci and Hubert and set the third fastest lap time of the race. However, that did not alter the fact that he was last at the finish. The heated fight between Ilott and Hughes continued, and they were closely followed by Tatiana in 12th and Juan Manuel in 13th. For lap after lap, the gap between each of the four vehicles varied between 0.2 and 0.7 seconds. In a careless moment, Juan Manuel hit the rear of Tatiana’s car, pitching her into a spin. She was able to continue, but had lost a lot of time, and ended up crossing the finish line in 19th place. Juan Manuel managed to catch Hughes shortly before the finish line and was thus 11th. The incident with Tatiana was judged to be a racing incident and Juan Manuel was not penalised.
Later in scrutineering Boccolacci, who won the race, and Kari, who finished 5th, were disqualified for not having enough fuel left in their cars for a sample to be verified, that moved everyone up two places and meant Juan Manuel scored 2 points.
The grid for the second race of the weekend was set by reversing the order of the first eight finishers in the first race, with the rest of the places set according to finishing order in the first race.
Results Race One | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | Anthoine Hubert (F) | ART | 37:55.061 | |
2nd | Nikita Mazepin (RUS) | ART | Gap | 4.361 |
3rd | Giuliano Alesi (F) | Trident | Gap | 8.333 |
9th | Juan Manuel Correa (USA) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
17th | Tatiana Calederon (COL) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
18th | David Beckmann (D) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
Fastest lap: Anthoine Hubert (F) in 1:52.551 |
Race Two Grid | |||
---|---|---|---|
1st | Callum Ilott (GB) | ART | |
2nd | Joey Mawson (AUS) | Arden | |
3rd | Pedro Piquet (BRA) | Trident | |
9th | Juan Manuel Correa (USA) | Jenzer Motorsport | |
17th | Tatiana Calderon (COL) | Jenzer Motorsport | |
18th | David Beckmann (D) | Jenzer Motorsport |
GP3 Series
Race Two (30 Minutes)
Sunday, 24/06/18, 10.50, Weather: Sunny, 23°C
Juan Manuel held onto his 9th place for several laps after a good start until he came under pressure from Hughes and Tveter, while David also started very well from 18th place, determined to gain as many places as he could. He was soon up to 13th, right behind the charging pair of Hughes and Tveter. The two tangled and Hughes dropped back, but Tveter had plenty of momentum to get past Juan Manuel, who had been forced to the outside, which meant David, who was following immediately behind, was able to go through. Juan Manuel was also caught by Laaksonen, but then he regained control and managed to finish 12th, even though Boccolacci and Lundgaard were pushing hard from behind. David managed to come home in a good 10th place. Tatiana started well and was already 14th, but then made contact with another driver and damaged her front wing. She came back to the pits for a replacement, and re-joined the race, setting some very quick lap times, as she fought her way back to 16th place.
We are looking forward to the next race in just one week’s time at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Results Race Two | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | Callum Ilott (GB) | ART | 28:35.270 | |
2nd | Pedro Piquet (BRA) | Trident | Gap | 3.491 |
3rd | Joey Mawson (AUS) | Arden | Gap | 5.037 |
10th | David Beckmann (D) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
12th | Juan Manuel Correa (USA) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
16th | Tatiana Calederon (COL) | Jenzer Motorsport | ||
Fastst lap: Anthoine Hubert (F) in 1:52.934 |
Championship standings after 4 out of 18 races:
1st Anthoine Hubert (F), 63 points; 2nd Nikita Mazepin (RUS), 49 points; 3rd Giuliano Alesi (F), 42 points; 4th Callum Ilott (GB), 36 points; 5th Leonardo Pulcini (I), 29 points; 6th. Pedro Piquet (BRA), 22 points; 10th Juan Manuel Correa (USA), 14 points; 12th David Beckmann (D), 8 points
2018 GP3 Series
11/12/13 May | 2018 Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espana | Catalunya (E) |
22/23/24 June | 2018 Formula 1 French Grand Prix | Le Castellet (F) |
30 Jun, 1/2 July | 2018 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix | RedBull Ring (A) |
6/7/8 July | 2018 Formula 1 British Grand Prix | Silverstone (GB) |
27/28/29 July | 2018 Formula 1 Ing Magyar Nagydij | Hungaroring (HU) |
24/25/26 August | 2018 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix | Spa-Francorchamps (B) |
31 Aug, 1/2 September | 2018 Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia | Monza (I) |
28/29/30 September | 2018 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix | Sochi (RUS) |
23/24/25 November | 2018 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Abu Dhabi (UEA) |
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