In front of crowds estimated at around 50,000, in the bright Pau sunshine, Romain Grosjean claimed a popular home win for his Signature-Plus team, followed by his team-mate Guillaume Moreau. Mike Conway upheld the honour of the regular competitors in the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series by keeping up with the Signature cars, coming in third to win the Championship class, claiming maximum points and taking the lead of the points classification. Juho Annala of Finland won the National class after an action-packed race for the year-old cars.
GROSJEAN WINS THE GRAND PRIX DE PAU FOR SIGNATURE
Signature Plus driver Romain Grosjean completed his domination of the Pau weekend with victory in the prestigious 66th Grand Prix de Pau, leading home his team-mate Guillaume Moreau for a fine one-two round the narrow street circuit. “For me, it was very important to win this race, which was especially dear to the Mayor of Pau, who died recently,” Grosjean explained. “He was a really good man, and I wanted to win it for him. I like Pau, and I really like the track.” The team was very pleased to have taken a one-two on this challenging circuit, with the third car, driven by Charlie Kimball, in 6th overall. Third place went to Räikkönen Robertson’s Mike Conway, the only man able to keep up with the French duo this weekend. He finished over thirty seconds ahead of Fortec’s Yelmer Buurman, who withstood almost constant pressure from Maro Engel throughout the 22 laps.
CONWAY WINS CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS AND TAKES POINTS LEADMike Conway, the leading driver from the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series throughout this weekend, continued his fine performance with third overall in the Grand Prix de Pau, winning the Championship class and taking full points. With a grand score of 42 from Pau, while Bruno Senna only claimed 7, he has now taken the lead in the Championship, and is equal on number of victories with his Räikkönen team-mate Senna. “It’s a fantastic result for the team, who did a great job all weekend. We got up to speed quite quickly, and really got to grips with the circuit. I’m now back in the points lead, and back on track to win the Championship,” he said afterwards. “Pau is fantastic; I always enjoy street circuits, and it’s been great for Pau to let us disturb their streets for a week.” Carlin’s Maro Engel, with his second third-place finish of the weekend, is now on equal points with Oliver Jarvis, although he leads him on the number of podiums. Buurman is lying fifth, three points behind Engel and Jarvis.
ANNALA CLAIMS NATIONAL WIN; FIRST NON-FINISH FOR GONZALEZAfter five consecutive wins for Rodolfo Gonzalez, the Venezuelan T-Sport driver failed to finish for the first time this season. A confusing race in the National class saw Annala awarded the win, after Morgado failed to come in for a drive-through penalty. Finnish Performance Racing driver Annala was joined on the podium by his team-mate Avila, with Alexander Khateeb taking the third place. “I’m really happy because I thought everything was gone after Donington, and now I’ve had two really good results, although my win today didn’t come the way I would have liked it to come. I was just trying to avoid all the crashes!” In the classification, Gonzalez still leads by 36 points from Morgado and Annala.
GRID Neither the nr 4 Carlin Motorsport Dallara of Stuart Hall, nor the nr 14 Fortec Motorsport Dallara of Charlie Hollings lined up on the starting grid for the Grand Prix de Pau. Both cars having been involved in the start-line crash in Sunday’s 5th round of the Championship. Further to yesterday’s report, it is now understood that Hall stalled on the grid, and Hollings was unable to avoid him, being hit, in his turn, from behind. Three National class cars were also involved, Avila and Kudzak being unable to start, while Morgado made his way to the pits and rejoined, finishing a lap down. This meant that 25 cars lined up for today’s race.
RACE RUNDOWN
Although the cars all got off the line today, there was a pile-up among the back of the grid at the Lycee corner, with 10 cars stopped on the track. The race was red-flagged, and they formed up again on the grid, for a race reduced to 22 laps. At the restart, James Jakes made a bad start, but although he joined well back, there were no further incidents and the race got underway. Buurman took fourth from Engel, with Championship leader Senna in 12th. On lap 3, James Walker stopped at Goulet. The next lap, National Championship leader Rodolfo Gonzalez spun at Gare, recovering but stopping again at Lycée. By lap 6, the two Signature cars and Mike Conway had pulled out a big gap, while Engel was close behind fourth-placed Buurman, Kimball close behind Engel. On lap 8, Texeira retired at Foch further to contact with Ihara, while Morgado led the National class. On lap 11, Ihara hit the barriers at Gare, and retired in the pits. By lap 13, there was a 17-second gap between Conway, in third, and Buurman in fourth, while Bruno Senna was putting pressure on Jelley for 9th. National class leader Morgado was awarded a drive through penalty for overtaking under yellows, while on lap 17, Dennis Retera went off at Goulet. Buurman was under pressure from Engel and Kimball, but overtaking was impossible. Grosjean took the chequered flag after 22 laps, 2.3 seconds ahead of Moreau, with Conway six seconds behind. Buurman and Engel survived an encounter with Avila and Kudzak, who had collided to come in fourth and fifth. Morgado came in for his penalty on the final lap, and was not classified, leaving Annala to win the National class ahead of Avila and Khateeb.
DRIVER QUOTES
Romain Grosjean, nr 64 Signature-Plus Dallara F305 Mercedes:
“It was superb race for me, and also for Guillaume, as we really wanted to do a one-two today. We pushed hard for the whole race, and it went really well. We were really keen to win the Grand Prix de Pau, and the whole team is happy with the result. Now, I hope this good result will help us in the rest of our season in the F3 Euroseries. For me, it was very important to win this race, which was especially dear to the Mayor of Pau, who died recently. He was a really good man, and I wanted to win it for him. I like Pau, and I really like the track.”
Guillaume Moreau, nr 63 Signature-Plus Dallara F305 Mercedes:
“For me and the team it was a fantastic race. Romain was very, very fast, I would like to congratulate him. The car was close to perfect. I missed my first start totally, so I was very lucky that we had a restart. I regained my second place on the grid, and although Romain missed his start slightly, I didn’t insist, as I preferred to ensure we got the one-two we wanted. We kept a really high pace throughout, and pulled away from much of the field. It was really important for the whole team.”
Mike Conway, nr 26 Räikkönen Robertson Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA
“It’s fantastic. Yesterday’s race was tough, as was today’s. I was able to keep up with the leaders and pulled out a massive gap between me and the guys behind. I pushed all the way through the race and closed up with the Signature cars, but didn’t have quite enough to stick with them. It’s a fantastic result for the team, who did a great job all weekend. We got up to speed quite quickly, and really got to grips with the circuit. I’m now back in the points lead, and back on track to win the Championship. Pau is fantastic; I always enjoy street circuits, and it’s been great for Pau to let us disturb their streets for a week.”
Yelmer Buurman, nr 3 Fortec Motorsport Dallara F306 Mercedes HWA
“The first start wasn’t that good, but the second one, which mattered, was fine. I got ahead of one car and that was it for the whole race. In the end, two backmarkers crashed into each other in front of me. I avoided the first one, but the second one was driving on the inside of the track, so I went to overtake him on the outside. Then he came to the outside, and I crashed into the back of him. It looked really bad, but he’s OK. I didn’t think I’d finish the race, but I did, and I’m second, so that’s good. I saw Maro in my mirrors for the whole race, but at the moment of the accident, I was just looking where I could pass, and I didn’t really see him. When I looked in my mirrors two corners back, he was still there, quite a bit back.”
Maro Engel, nr 12 Carlin Motorsport Dallara F306 Mugen Honda
“It’s very difficult to pass here. I was very close to Buurman throughout the race. I chose to back off at some moments to preserve my tyres a bit, and then chose to attack at others. Even so, being really close to him, it was just impossible to pass. So all I could do was follow him; I think we did have a bit more pace, and it would have been nice to have second place, but basically the positions were set at the start. The last lap must have been one of the craziest laps I’ve ever seen. I was so lucky to get through the first car that spun across the track, and then I saw Yelmer pinning that car against the wall. As I went to overtake both cars, Yelmer somehow came off the wall, with all four wheels on his car, I don’t know how that happened. I slammed the brakes on, so we didn’t have an accident, and somehow we both got to the line, and that was my race, really. Everything packed together in the last lap. Pau is a great track, and we’ve been quick from the off. I think it would be fair to say that in terms of speed, we’ve been right behind Mike who has obviously been quickest all weekend.”
Juho Annala, nr 39 Performance Racing Dallara F304 Mugen Honda
“I’m really happy because I thought the Championship and everything was gone after Donington, and now I’ve had two really good results, and my first win, which is really good, although my win today didn’t come the way I would have liked it to come. I was just trying to avoid all the crashes, and then they told me I had won, so why not?”
Rodolfo Avila, nr 38 Performance Racing Dallara F304 Mugen Honda
“My Championship this year started really badly; I was quick in practice but never finished on the podium. Today my race was going really well, I was in second, when I had a small incident with another driver and had a spin. After that, at the end, I was in 4th position and had a gap of 12 seconds to third place. I was pushing hard, but when I was trying to overtake, the other driver put me in the wall, so I was really disappointed. Once I got to the end, they told me I was second, so that was good, and good for the team. I’ve enjoyed Pau because I’m from Macau, so I’ve grown up watching street circuit racing, and it gives me great pleasure to be on the podium on a street circuit, and I think it’s good for the people of Macau too.”
Alexandre Khateeb, nr 33 Promatecme Dallara F304 Mugen Honda
“This is my second meeting in the British F3 International Series. The first race didn’t go too well, as I had a sticking throttle. Today, we were running in third, then I spun, dropped back, hung on, and somehow we’re here.”
