Nyck De Vries takes a great second place for Racing Engineering at Spa Sprint
In yesterday’s Feature Race Racing Engineering’s drivers Gustav Malja and Nyck De Vries had initially finished in 6th and 7th positions however, post-race disqualifications to Leclerc and Rowland promoted them to 4th and 5th. This meant that Nyck was starting from 4th and Gustav from 5th on the reversed grid in today’s 18 lap Sprint Race where the weather was a little cooler than in yesterday’s race with air and track temperatures of 20° and 25° respectively. Both of the Racing Engineering cars were starting on the Pirelli P Zero White medium compound tyres.
As the lights went off Nyck made a great start moving up to 3rd and he was battling with Nato into the first corner and as the cars exited Eau Rouge Nyck pulled level with the Frenchman taking 2nd at the end of Radillon. The young Dutch driver now began to chase the leader, Camara, and he closed the gap to one second which he then held constant as he preserved his tyres for later in the race and on lap eight the gap was i.5 seconds and he was leading Nato by three seconds. Over the next six the two cars were very closely matched with both men setting almost identical lap times but with four laps remaining Nyck began to close the gap but an accident to Matsushita at Eau Rouge saw the Safety Car deployed. The damage to the track barrier meant that it was impossible to repair and the race finished under the Safety Car.
Gustav was a little slow away at the start falling to 6th and at the end of the lap he was chasing Ghiotto with Fuoco close behind but on lap four he was passed by both Markelov and Fuoco and he was now ahead of Delétraz. On lap five he was being pressured by Leclerc and on lap 6th the Prema car was ahead and the Racing Engineering car was now down in 9th and on lap eleven it became 10th as he fell behind Rowland. Just before the Safety Car was deployed the young Swede was passed by Ferrucci to finish a disappointed 11th at the flag.
It was a great result for Nyck De Vries on his first race weekend with Racing Engineering and he has been competitive from the start putting the Spanish team back to the front. For Gustav, it is a case of what might have been if he hadn't been hampered by having to race with a worn tyre. The team has little time to celebrate as they will be leaving Spa immediately to head to Italy and the Monza circuit for next weekend’s ninth round of the 2017 FIA F2 Championship.
Sebastien Viger - Technical Director:
"Finally we are back on the podium. It was a really good start by Nyck, who moved up to second and was very close to Sette Camara at the beginning. Settle Camara pushed a bit more during the first third of the race and managed a 1.5 sec gap, which he kept until the end impeding Nyck’s use of the DRS. Towards the end Nyck reduced the gap and who knows what would have happened without the Safety Car. Thanks to Nyck for putting us back to where we belong. With the other car we cannot emphasise enough the amazing drive of Gustav. We had to mount a tyre from yesterday's race and this meant his car was badly unbalanced. But he managed to keep people at bay for a long time and stayed in the points for a good part of the race. We are really sorry for him as he could certainly have been on the podium with Nyck today. We hope now to carry the momentum over to Monza.”
Nyck De Vries:
"I am happy with our first weekend together and that we immediately made it on to the podium. The team supported me well all weekend long and I am very impressed by their work approach, professionalism and structure. We did it together in order to be there from the beginning and we hope to continue with this momentum for the rest of the season to gain more podiums and even wins.”
Gustav Malja:
"Before the start we noticed a problem with my front right tyre and we had to change it for one of yesterday's tyres, which obviously already had a lot of laps. I immediately felt a lot less grip and that was it for the race. I think i did quite well defending all the way to the end to finish close to the top 10. It's not bad in that respect even though the plan was obviously to fight at the front. Monza is up next and we will focus on this now.”
Racing Engineering’s drivers Gustav Malja and Nyck De Vries finish 6th and 7th in Spa Feature Race
Qualifying at the Spa Francorchamps circuit took place in the wet but, despite the difficult conditions, both of the Racing Engineering drivers were very competitive with Gustav Malja finishing fourth and Nyck De Vries in sixth. Fortunately, the weather for the 25 lap Feature Race was dry with air and track temperatures of 25° and 35° respectively. Both of the Racing Engineering cars were starting on the compound tyres and changing to the P Zero White medium compound version at the mandatory pitstop.
As the cars lined up on the grid second placed man Latifi was unable to leave the pits promoting Gustav and Nyck to 3rd and 5th respectively and as the lights went off both men made clean starts holding onto their positions but as the first lap developed both men lost several places in the opening lap traffic jam, Gustav falling to 6th with Nyck right behind him in 8th. A brief Virtual Safety Car period saw the cars close up and on the restart Nyck passed Albon to move up to 7th and the two teammates were running together as they closed in on Markelov in 5th. By lap four Gustav was 0.7 seconds behind Markelov with Nyck 1.4 seconds further back, 1.5 seconds ahead of Merhi.
On lap seven Gustav pitted to switch to the medium compound tyres. resuming in 12th position and two laps later Nyck followed him from 5th dropping to 10th, as once again he was right behind his teammate Gustav. All the drivers who started on the soft tyres were now pitting and on lap thirteen, just past the half-way point of the race, Gustav and Nyck were in 8th and 9th with five cars ahead of them still to pit. On lap fifteen, as all the cars had completed their pitstops, Gustav was in 4th with Nyck in 5th but they were being chased by Markelov and Fuoco and on lap seventeen the Russian used the combination of fresh tyres and DRS to move ahead of Nyck and further round the lap he also passed Gustav. Almost immediately Fuoco, also with the advantage of new tyres and DRS, got ahead of Nyck and then Gustav leaving the two Racing Engineering drivers in 6th and 7th. Lap twenty saw both men with a lead of six seconds over Sette Camara with five laps remaining and in the last ! three laps Nyck began to close in on Gustav but Gustav was able to hold onto his position.
This has been a very good day for Racing Engineering in what has been a generally disappointing season so far with both their drivers in the top seven. TheSprint Race will see Nyck starting second and Gustav third on the reversed grid and both men will have an excellent chance of standing on the podium.
Sebastien Viger - Technical Director:
"A bit of a strange feeling after today’s race. With the starting positions we had, we expected a bit more, but it’s still good to be back fighting at the front. The opening lap was not fantastic and we lost some positions there with both cars. From there on our pace was reasonable, but we missed a bit of the ultimate lap time to be better and were most probably a bit too conservative in regards to strategy as the opposite one seems to have worked better. All in all, we scored a good amount of points, which was much needed, but we were definitely aiming for more and will work hard tonight to finish on the podium tomorrow.”
Nyck De Vries:
"I didn't have a very good start, which lost me a bit of momentum on lap 1. At Les Combes I came together with Gustav in the heat of the opening lap and we both lost out a little bit there. Then we had a decent pace, but not enough to attack and come back. We made the most out of our package today. I start in 2nd tomorrow, so we will work hard on improving to fight for the win.”
Gustav Malja:
"Overall finishing in 6th is good and I am happy with this, even though I am not fully satisfied with the results. I think we maximised our pace today and finished in 6th position. This is obviously a decent performance, but it leaves space to improve for tomorrow. I would like to thank the team for the hard work and their good job.”
