Frédéric Vervisch race review
Frédéric Vervisch strengthened his second position in the German Formula 3 Championship with two second places on the Sachsenring. The East German track was the venue for the eight and penultimate round of the ATS F3 Cup.
An accident during practice robbed Frédéric from precious track time. Nevertheless, the 21-year-old put in a strong performance in qualifying. He set the third fastest lap time during the first qualifying, whereas he was fourth fastest in the second session.
In race 1 Frédéric made an exceptional start. From third place he was already putting pressure on pole setter Christian Vietoris. Side by side they ran into the first corner, but it was the German who took the advantage. “I selected the wrong gear and had to let him go”, Frédéric explained after the race. In the mean time Frédérics team mate Verdonck had overtaken Carlo Van Dam. Thereafter he was attacking Fred for second place. They fought a nice battle, while Vietoris took profit of this duel to increase his lead. As they wanted to overtake a slower car, Verdonck was forced off the track and crashed. This gave Frédéric more breathing space and he maintained his second place behind Vietoris.
Also in the second race Frédérics start was superb. He put his car beside Van Dam into the first corner, while pole setter Vietoris made a bad start. Because Van Dam was able to maintain a better racing line, he grabbed the lead. It took a while before Vervischs tyres where up to their operating temperature. Only after half distance he was able to put more pressure on Van Dam. In the end, Vervisch finished four tenths of a second behind Van Dam. The Dutchman also secured the title in the German Championship.
“After my crash on Friday, I had a lack of confidence during qualifying and the races. Still we were able to put in a solid performance”, Vervisch said. “The team did a great job repairing the car over night. The result is known. We finished twice second, a result which we hadn’t counted on. Van Dam has won the championship, but the battle for second place is still not over. I have 19 points more than my closest rival, so I only need five points to secure second position. I will also help my team mate to regain third place in the standings. We want to finish the season in style during the last race weekend.”
The season finale of the German Formula 3 Cup takes place in the weekend of September 29th and 30th in the Motopark Oschersleben.
