An instructive weekend....
This weekend DAMS raced in the third and fourth rounds of the Formula BMW Europe Championship on the Zolder circuit in Belgium.
Kevin Breysse and Jim Pla used the second meeting of the season to apply the lessons learned in Barcelona five weeks ago. The two Frenchmen were in 7th and 20th positions on the grid of race 1 and finished 9th and 19th. This afternoon Kevin was again in 7th spot on the grid and, after a collision in the first corner, he rejoined in 16th position and pulled back 3 places before the finish. Jim too had a difficult race: he started from 21st place and managed to fight his way up to 16h by the time the flag fell.
After 4 races, DAMS is in 8th place in the Teams’ Championship with 38 points. Kevin Breysse is 8th in the Drivers’ Championship and Jim Pla 20th.
The next round is at Silverstone between 4th and 7th July and the two races will serve as curtain raisers to the British F1 Grand Prix. In the meantime, DAMS will take part in 2 official test sessions in Spa and Budapest.
Eric Boullier, team manager: “After the Barcelona results, we were hoping to come home from Zolder with more points in the bag. Unfortunately, Kevin ran into problems at both starts while Jim, who was far back on the grid, was unable to make it into the top 10. We’re going to analyse our weekend and learn our lessons from it. The two test sessions before Silverstone will help us to get to know the car better and refine its set-up, while it’ll give our drivers the opportunity to improve their understanding of the championship.”
Kevin Breysse: “It’s been a frustrating weekend overall as we had the pace but we were unable to capitalise on it. First of all, in qualifying the succession of yellow flags prevented me from putting in a really fast lap. Then, at the start of race 1, I didn’t make a great getaway and I lost two places. In the second event, I was hit and my race was virtually over after only a few hundred metres. I’m really looking forward to Silverstone.”
Jim Pla: “Overtaking is difficult at Zolder and starting from so far back on the grid I had little chance of scoring points. But my performance in both races shows that I’m on the pace. Now I have to find the right rhythm in qualifying and start from the front of the grid.”
