on 2nd position in the overall ranking - 4th round ATS F3 Cup - Nürburgring
Two good races with a podium place at Saturday’s race permitted Nico Verdonck to score valuable points in the fight for the first positions in the overall ranking of the German ATS Formula 3 Championship.
Once again a crowd of over 150.000 spectators followed and jelled at the Formula 3 single seaters as well as the husky trucks which competed in the same weekend at the Nürburgring. Nico and his purple speedster were back in action determined to repeat the performance of a successful 24 hours weekend last June on the same track.
Two free practices took place on Friday. After being fifth fastest in the first one, several set up changes of the team to the balance of the Lola B06/30 boosted Nico’s lap times. He managed to climb and finish the free practice sessions with a promising 2nd place.
In the first qualifying on Saturday all ridden track times of the competitive multinational drivers were very close. Once again Nico secured himself a place in the top of all his competitor, starting the first race out of the second row. “My fastest lap was definitely not a bad one, but I am still three tenths of a second slower than the pole time. I will try to push harder in the race”, said a determined and motivated Nico Verdonck.
Nevertheless not being 100% satisfied of his performance, Nico started optimistically into the first race. He made a good start, immediately trying to overtake the current leader in the Championship Carlo Van Dam. But his rival twice closed the doors inside and outside the first two corners by pushing Nico on the dirty part of the track. Nico continued putting pressure on the drivers in front … with success. After an error of pole setter Christian Vietoris, Nico finished the race as 3rd. “I am happy about my podium, a good third place. I wanted more, but I was missing speed in order to overtake them”, commented JB Motorsports number #1.
In the second qualifying on Sunday, Nico was again fourth fastest. In the race the 21-years old Belgian struggled with the setup of his car and lost a place to Michael Klein at the start. But fighting hard, Nico regained the fourth place right away. The leading quartet with Nico could break away from the pursuers. Lap by lap, Nico tried to get the maximum out of his unbalanced car, but finally not enough in order to improve his fourth place.
Nico rounded off a sunny racing weekend in the German Eifel with the following words: “I would like to thank the team for their great efforts. It was not an easy weekend for them. I have scored important points for the championship, but we all know that there is still a lot work ahead of us. I am looking forward to our next race on the Lausitz EuroSpeedway in August.”
