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Race Report

2016 Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia
GP3 SERIES

Circuit: Monza (I), Length 5.793 km, 03rd/04th September 2016, Rounds 13 & 14
www.monzanet.it

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2016:
AKASH NANDY (MAS) and ARJUN MAINI (IND)

Maini back in the points at Monza

The GP3 Series met up at the very fast Monza (I) circuit, as ever racing as one of the support races for the Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia 2016. This was their seventh and last outing in Europe supporting the 2016 Grand Prix Programme. The weather was still quite hot and it was the last chance for everybody to show themselves to the best of their abilities on home turf.

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Race One Qualifying

Saturday, 03/09/16, 09.45 – 10.15, Weather: Sunny, 26°C

The free practice session on Friday afternoon took place in beautiful sunshine and produced very close lap times with 16 drivers within a second of the fastest time. Akash was 15th and Arjun was 16th.
At the start of the qualifying session the sky was blue and temperatures already high. Everything went to plan with the first set of tyres and Arjun was 11th, while Akash was 22nd. The field then headed for the pits to change to their second sets of tyres. When they went out again they spent several laps just warming their tyres. Arjun wanted to push, but Janosz kept right on weaving in front of him. When Arjun tried to overtake there was contact and Arjun’s front wing was knocked off. That meant he had to make his way to the pits. After the session Janosz was handed a penalty for causing the collision, but that didn’t help Arjun, the damage was done, and the time had elapsed. Then Alesi ended up stranded on track and the session had to be stopped. After that a mere three minutes remained on the clock, which was just enough for one flying lap. As a result Arjun ended up in a disappointing 19th and Akash, who improved at the last minute, was right behind him in 20th position.

Race One Grid
1st Charles Leclerc (MC) ART 1:38.546
2nd Antonio Fuoco (I) Trident 1:38.712
3rd Nirei Fukuzumi (JPN) ART 1:38.729
19th Arjun Maini (IND) Jenzer Motorsport 1:39.535
20th Akash Nandy (MAS) Jenzer Motorsport 1:39.558

 

GP3 Series

Race One (40 Minutes)

Saturday, 03/09/16, 17.15, Weather: Sunny, 30°C

The field made a clean start, got through the chicane and began an exciting race. Akash was 18th after the first lap while Arjun, who had damaged a tyre, came into the pit lane to have it changed. Because Joerg had stopped on track, the Safety Car was deployed. However Joerg got going by himself, and the Safety Car came back in. The intermission helped Arjun close the gap to the field once he was back on track. It didn’t take long and he was soon able to launch an attack on Tereshenko, and overtake him. Akash had moved up to 16th and set a very good pace and was soon closing on Boschung. Arjun set some very fast lap times and managed to move up the order steadily. A few laps before the end he overtook Akash and when Ferrucci and Boschung tangled, Arjun and Akash both gained more places. After an eventful, fast race (the speed trap showed Arjun at 298 kph) they both reached the finish line in line astern, Arjun in 14th and Akash in 15th. We wondered what would have been possible if they had started from better positions.

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 Jake Dennis (GB) Arden 40:06.695  
2nd Jack Aitken (GB) Arden Gap 1.987
3rd Jake Hughes (GB) DAMS Gap 2.532
14th Arjun Maini (IND) Jenzer Motorsport    
15th Akash Nandy (MAS) Jenzer Motorsport    
Fastest lap: Jake Hughes (GB) in 1:40.706

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Race Two Grid
1st Antonio Fuoco (I) Trident  
2nd Nick de Vries (NL) ART  
3rd Alexander Albon (T) ART  
14th Arjun Maini (IND) Jenzer Motorsport  
15th Akash Nandy (MAS) Jenzer Motorsport  

 

GP3 Series

Race Two (30 Minutes)

Sunday, 04/09/16, 09.15, Weather: Sunny, 26°C

It was again sunny in the morning and a massive crowd of spectators followed the race. The start went well, but soon there were several hard battles for position. On lap three Leclerc and Fukuzumi clashed and spun off track and the Safety Car had to be deployed until it was all cleared away. Arjun had managed to improve to 10th place after the start, and was now, with the Safety Car, up in 7th. At the restart he got hit by Stuvik and dropped back to 9th. Akash, who was 14th after the first lap, moved up the order until he made it to 10th at the restart. He then came under pressure from Boschung, and the two of them headed into the chicane side by side. Akash braked frantically, but it was too late to get through. They both went straight up the escape road and were able to slot back into the field again. However, Akash had to call into the pits because one of his tyres was utterly destroyed. When he returned to the race he was able to set some very good lap times, but he had fallen a long way back and crossed the finish line in 18th. This was a real pity! Arjun managed to overtake Schothorst soon after the restart but then ended up as a spectator for several laps behind furiously scrapping pair of Janosz and Palou. Arjun waited his chance and then passed Janosz, and on the final lap he managed to carry more momentum into the Parabolica and overtook Palou in a sensational manoeuvre! Arjun took the chequered flag in an excellent 6th place, collecting further important points.

We are now looking forward to the next race which will take place overseas in four week’s time at Sepang, Malaysia.

Results Race Two
1st Nick de Vries (NL) ART 30:24.854  
2nd Alexander Albon (T) ART Gap 1.741
3rd Antonio Fuoco (I) Trident Gap 6.382
6th Arjun Maini (IND) Jenzer Motorsport    
18th Akash Nandy (MAS) Jenzer Motorsport    
Fastest lap: Nick de Vries (NL) in 1:40.766

 

Championship standings after 14 out of 18 races:

1st Charles Leclerc (F), 177 points; 2nd Antonio Fuoco (I), 153 points; 3rd Alexander Albon (THA), 145 points; 4th Nick de Vries (NL), 104 points; 5th Jake Dennis (GB), 96 points; 6th Jack Aitken (GB), 89 points; 11th Arjun Maini, 36 points; 13th Oscar Tunjo (COL), 18 points

 

2016 GP3 Series

13th/15th May 2016 Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espana Barcelona (E)
1st/3rd July 2016 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix RedBullRing (A)
8th/10th July 2016 Formula 1 British Grand Prix Silverstone (GB)
>22nd/24th July >2016 Formula 1 Ing Magyar Nagydij Hungaroring (HU)
29th/31st July 2016 Formel 1 Grosser Preis von Deutschland Hockenheim (D)
26th/28th August 2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix Spa-Francorchamps (B)
2nd/4th September 2016 Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia Monza (I)
30th Sep./2nd October 2016 Formula 1 Malaysian Grand Prix Sepang (MAS)
25th/27th November 2016 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Abu Dhabi (UEA)

For more information: