Race Report

GP3 SERIES

Circuit: Valencia (E), Length 4.005 km, 15^th/16^th June 2013, Rounds 3 & 4
www.circuitvalencia.com

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2013:
Samin Gomez (VEN), Patric Niederhauser (CH) and Alex Fontana (CH)

Fast lap times but no points in Valencia

The GP3 Series teams met for their second event of the 2013 season for a standalone event at the permanent circuit of Ricardo Tormo at Valencia. The sun was hot and the temperate conditions meant the 27-strong field was very close.

Race One Qualifying

Saturday, 15/06/13, 14.30 – 15.00, Weather: Sunny, 32°C

In free practice on Saturday morning Patric was 3rd, Alex 13^th and Samin 23^rd. All were in good spirits and expected to improve. However, in qualifying, which was run during the hottest part of the day, nothing seemed to work. Neither Patric nor Alex were able to get a good lap, and they had to be content with 16^th and 17^th places respectively, while Samin more or less equalled her performance in free practice and was 24^th.
After qualifying Yelloly and Williamson had their times disallowed because their cars did not comply with the regulations; they would both start the race from the back of the grid. Meanwhile Kujala was handed a 10-place penalty for overtaking under red flags and would start from 25th. That moved all of our drivers up three places each on the grid for race one.

GP3 Series

Race One (30 Minutes)

Sunday, 16/06/13, 11.00, Weather: Sunny, 26°C

The race start went well, Patric improving to 12th place during the first lap, Alex had to avoid an accident and dropped back to 18^th and Samin held on to 21^st. The field set a fast pace and were very close together, helped by the fact that Harvey and McKee were slower than their pursuers. Patric was right on McKee’s gearbox, but he couldn’t find a way past and had Venturini and Yelloly pushing from behind. Yelloly managed to get past Venturini and then Patrick during one of later laps, leaving Patric to finish a hard fought race in 13^th. Although Alex fell back at the start, there followed a superb chase for positions in which he managed to overtake Zonzini, then Kujala, and finally Venturini to finish the race just behind Patric in 14^th place. It left us wondering what might have been possible if he had started further forward. Samin made good start and held position, but on lap two she had to take avoiding action and unfortunately ended up in the gravel trap, putting an early end to her race.

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, 16/06/13, 15.00, Weather: Sunny, 30°C

The start of the second race was also trouble free, Patric finishing lap 1 in 12^th with Alex 14^th and Samin holding 23^rd place. Patric again got right on the gearbox of McKee, but this time very quickly found a way past. Alex, who had already passed Yelloly and Harvey, pulled past McKee on the same lap to put the two of the in 10^th and 11^th. Their lap times were quicker than those of the front runners at this stage. However, when Patric tried to attack Zamparelli, Zamparelli closed the door on him and Patric damaged a tyre. With a cut tyre he had to limp back to the pitlane and abandon the race. The fastest sector times he had been setting were to no avail, because his race was already over; which was a shame. Alex was now 10^th and was trying to hold off Yelloly. The latter managed to slip past Alex towards the end of the race, meaning Alex finished this race in 11^th. His lap times were good enough to suggest that a better result might have been possible. Samin put pressure on Cullen early in the race and managed to get past him, then she set about Sa Silva, trading places with him repeatedly. After some courageous overtaking manoeuvres it was Samin who held the place and crossed the finishing line in 19^th. She ran a great race, especially given that the first ten places did not change at all during the race.
The next race event will be part of the program of the F1 GP at Silverstone, England, on the weekend of 30^th June 2013.

Championship standings after 4 out of 16 races:

1^st Tio Ellinas (CYP), 55 points; 2^nd Conor Daly (USA), 19 points; 3^rd Aaro Vainio (FIN), 25 points; 4^th Kevin Korjus (EST), 18 points; 5^th Patric Niederhauser (CH), 28 points; 6^th Carlos Sainz (E), 22 points; 15^th Alex Fontana (CH), 1 point

2013 GP3 Series

For more information:

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