4th round ATS F3 Cup - Nürburgring

Last month, Frédéric scored his second win of the season on the Nürburgring, but this weekend everything was more hard going.

During practice, it became clear that the Lola B06/30 OPC Challenge of Frédéric was not fast enough on new tyres. Nevertheless the Belgian started qualifying with a lot of confidence. “Everything went better than during practice. The car was definitely better, but not good enough.” JB Motorsports driver qualified in fifth place. In race 1 however, the speed wasn’t good once again and Frédéric was not able to follow the guys in front of him. When Christian Vietoris made an error, our man moved up a position. Fred was then attacked by Vietoris during the remainder of the race, but after a flawless performance the Belgian finished fourth.

The second qualifying was scheduled for Sunday morning. Frédéric was sent out early with older tyres. JB had changed the setup of the Lola and wanted Frédéric to get used to the new configuration. When Fred had new tyres mounted, it was clear the car was a lot quicker than before. But after making an error in the chicane, his session came to an early end. “I was pushing too hard through the chicane and that ended badly. I went off track and my car took off. I damaged my nose cone and the front wishbones. It was my own mistake”, Vervisch told afterwards. He would start in 13th position.

The goal in race 2 was to score as many points as possible and therefor also setting the quickest race lap which is worth an extra point. After a strong race, Frédéric saw the checkered flag in sixth position. He had a great scrap with the Italian driver Chinosi during most of the race. “I overtook him a few times, but on the straights he was much quicker with the Honda-engine and he passed me easily. While hunting Chinosi I set the fastest lap. If Chinosi hadn’t hold me up I could have gone faster.”

“After all, the damage was minimized”, concludes Vervisch. “We should be very strong during the next races on the Eurospeedway Lausitz. After setting the fastest lap in race 2 on the Nürburgring I feel very confident again.”

Result Race 1:1. Recardo Bruins Choi, 18 laps in 25:10.6582. Carlo Van Dam, +2.4803. Nico Verdonck, +5.2814. Frédéric, +14.932 Result Race 2:1. Christian Vietoris, 17 laps in 25:15.1992. Recardo Bruins Choi, +0.6973. Carlo Van Dam, +1.351...6. Frédéric, +11.383 Tussenstand kampioenschap:1. Carlo Van Dam, 68 points 2. Frédéric, 59 points3. Nico Verdonck, 49 points