Race Report

Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Oesterreich 2017
GP3 SERIES

Circuit: RedBull Ring (A), Lenght 4,326 km, 08^th/09^th July 2017, Rounds 3 & 4
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JENZER MOTORSPORT 2017:
Alessio Lorandi (I) and Arjun Maini (IND)

Missed chance for Lorandi at the RedBull Ring

The GP3 Series teams met for the second event of the season as part of the Formula One programme at the Grosser Preis von Oesterreich 2017, on the RedBull Ring circuit near Zeltweg. Even in free practice on Friday it was clear that the strong field would produce a very close fight for places.

Race One Qualifying

Saturday, 08/07/17, 09.25 – 09.55, Weather: Sunny, 20°C

Temperatures were very high during the free practice session on Friday evening and the field was incredibly close together. Alessio was 9^th, just 0.316 seconds off the fastest time, and Arjun finished the session just behind him in 10^th place.
On Saturday morning conditions were a little cooler and were at their best. Our drivers gave their best, while the times were again really close, with 15 drivers within half a second of the best time.

GP3 Series

Race One (40 Minutes)

Saturday, 08/07/17, 17.15, Weather: Sunny, 28°C

The first two laps of the race were very eventful, and the Virtual Safety Car eventually had to be deployed for a short time. At the restart Alessio moved swiftly up to 8^th and was soon putting pressure on Boccolacci, at least for the first few laps. However, he was coiming under equal amounts of pressure with Hyman breathing down his neck, so he never got the chance to launch an attack. Everyone in the group drove so well that none of them could make good use of the DRS System for an overtaking manoeuvre. Alessio was clocked during the race as fastest overall through the Speed Traps at 263 kph. Towards the end of the race there was some movement in the field as was expected, and some positions changed. Alessio managed to snatch an excellent 7^th place from Boccolacci and was able to acquire some important points. Arjun didn’t get the best of starts and fell back to 18^th; this was a shame because he managed an impressive run during the race to work his way back up the order and finished the race in a very good 11^th place. Because Baptista was handed a time penalty after the race, Arjun was finally classified in 10^th and thus took the last available point.

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.

GP3 Series

Race Two (30 Minutes)

Sunday, 09/07/17, 09.10, Weather: Sunny, 24°C

Alessio missed the chance to make the best of his 2^nd place grid position when he didn’t get away very well and dropped back to 7^th place. Alessio was then all over Russell, yesterday’s winner, but Russell defended well, while from behind Alessio, Boccolacci was also pushing hard, which meant no-one could afford to make any mistakes. On this track the DRS system did not really seem to help much, although they were running in very close formation. On the last lap Boccolacci launched an attack on Alessio which went badly wrong. Boccolacci clipped Alessio’s right rear wheel, took off his rear wing and launched himself over Alessio‘s car, to land in the graveltrap, where he rolled several times. Fortunately Boccolacci was unhurt. Alessio managed to cross the finishing line without his rear wing, and with a damaged wheel, which didn't stop him claiming the last available point. Arjun didn’t manage to get the best out of his 10th position on the grid either, and fell back to 18^th. He then gained several places during the race but also lost some. Towards the end of the race he set the fastest lap of the race and crossed the finish line in 16^th. For this race Arjun was recorded as the fastest driver through the speed trap, at 265kph. Because both of our drivers set the fastest sector times again and again in this race, the end results were rather disappointing.

We are now looking forward to the next race in one weeks’ time at Silverstone (GB).

Championship standings after 4 out of 16 races:

1^st Nirei Fukuzumi (JPN), 54 points; 2^nd George Russell (GB), 53 points; 3^rd Anthoine Hubert (F), 38 points; 4^th Alessio Lorandi (I), 32 points; 5^th Jack Aitken (GB), 28 points; 6^th Raoul Hyman (GB), 25 points; 7^th Arjun Maini (IND), 22 points; 7^th Dorian Boccolacci (F), 22 points

2017 GP3 Series

For more information:

• www.gp3series.com
• www.italiaracing.net