Race Report

2014 Formula 1 Gran Premio d’Italia
GP3 SERIES

Circuit: Monza (I), Length 5.793 km, 6^th/7^th September 2014, Rounds 13 & 14
www.monzanet.it

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2014:
Pal Varhaug (NOR), Mathéo Tuscher (CH) and Kevin Ceccon (I)

Top Ten for Ceccon in 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 2013. This was their seventh and last outing in Europe supporting the 2014 Grand Prix Programme. The weather played the role it should, and temperatures were high once more.

Race One Qualifying

Saturday, 06/09/14, 09.45 – 10.15, Weather: Sunny, 21°C

The free practice session on Friday evening took place on an initially damp track, which dried quickly during the early part of the session, ending up completely dry. Our drivers had a great run with Kevin, sensationally, quickest of all, Mathéo 3^rd and Pal in an excellent 8^th place.
The sun was out for the qualifying session and the track was dry. But no matter how hard our drivers tried, this morning they couldn’t find the optimal laps, which meant that they were unable to slipstream and thus could not progress. That left Mathéo in 11^th, Kevin 14^th and Pal 15^th.

GP3 Series

Race One (30 Minutes)

Saturday, 06/09/14, 17.20, Weather: Sunny, 27°C

Temperatures remained high at the end of the afternoon and the sun was still shining. The start went well and this time the first chicane didn’t prove as lethal as it has sometimes in the past. Nevertheless Pal’s race didn’t last long. A push from Stanaway in the Lesmo Corner catapulted him into the gravel trap. The car was not damaged, but unfortunately Pal was stuck in the gravel and could not get out. Mathéo managed to move up to 10^th place, and Kevin was 11^th at the end of the first lap. Mathéo became embroiled in a battle with Yelloly which he finally won, putting him 9^th behind Lynn for several laps, until Visoiu was handed a Drive Through Penalty for overtaking under yellow flags. That promoted Mathéo to the much desired 8^th. Which would mean that he would start Sunday’s race from pole. Kevin was battling with Niederhauser, Stanaway and Mardenborough and finished the race after a number of position changes in 12^th.

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 the finishing order in the first race.

GP3 Series

Race Two (30 Minutes)

Sunday, 07/09/14, 09.25, Weather: Sunny, 20°C

Mathéo was unable to take advantage of his pole position and Stoneman, Lynn and Bernstorff all got past him almost immediately. Mathéo then found himself in a tough battle with Kirchhofer, the latter eventually claiming 4^th, while Mathéo fell back to 7^th. When Mathéo tried to overtake Kujala it all went wrong, with both drivers spinning off. Mathéo made it back to the pits with a damaged car, where he had to retire from the race. Kevin made a good start and immediately improved two places and when Mathéo and Kujala fell off, he was promoted to 8^th. Kevin put in some very fast laps and managed to overtake Zamparelli. When Stanaway made a mistake at the chicane, Kevin moved up another place to 6^th and was now the fastest man in the top ten. He came home in an excellent 6^th place with no problems. Pal started from 26^th, and improved his position lap after lap, avoid all the incidents. He also pulled some nice overtaking manoeuvres, just missing out on a ten ten finish, coming home in 11^th.

The next race, on unknown territory for everyone, will take place in one month’s time at Sochi (RUS).

Championship standings after 14 out of 18 races:

1^st Alex Lynn (GB), 173 points; 2^nd Richie Stanaway (NZ), 123 points; 3^rd Jimmy Eriksson (SWE), 115 points; 4^th Emil Bernstorff (GB), 111 points; 5^th Marvin Kirchhofer (D), 107 points; 6^th Nick Yelloly (GB), 102 points; 11^th Mathéo Tuscher (CH), 29 points; 16^th Pal Varhaug (NOR), 11 points; 19^th Kevin Ceccon (I), 4 points

2014 GP3 Series

For more information:

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