Hopeful of another good result, Frédéric Vervisch took part in the third and fourth race of the Atlantic Championship in New Jersey’s Motorsports Park. But a problem with the gearbox prevented him from finishing on the podium in the first race of the weekend.

Although free practice time was rather short, the weekend started with a good third fastest time in the first qualifying practice on a wet track. “These were no easy conditions for me as I only drove dry laps with the Swift car. Third on the grid is therefore a better result than I could have imagined”, Frédéric said. In the second qualifying session, Fred again finished third and minimized the gap to the front runner by a couple of tenths.

In race 1, Frédéric had an excellent start and immediately jumped to second behind his teammate. “It all looked promising in the first couple of laps of the race. Our speed was really good and I was able to follow the leader easily. But then I got problems with the gearbox, which got stuck in fourth gear. This meant that I had to let my teammate go and the others closed in on me very quickly. I was not able to keep them behind me. The only thing I could do was try to finish the race and score as many points as possible, which is what we did”, explains the 22-year-old Belgian, who eventually finished seventh.

Before the start of the second race, Fred received a grid penalty for – apparently – having blocked his opponent Edwards during qualifying. But the driver of Genoa Racing did what he had to do and drove a magnificent race. Being one of the fastest drivers on this narrow race track, Frédéric was able to finish on the third podium spot. Frédéric: “It is a shame that we had troubles with the gearbox. Without that, we would have made it onto the podium twice. A victory was certainly within reach. Thanks to the team for giving me such a fast car. The season is not over yet and there are plenty of opportunities left. Next month we’ll be racing at Lime Rock and hopefully I can give my team and sponsors something in return for their hard work and support.”