The third and penultimate round of the WSK Masters series (4/5 May) saw Forza Racings Robert Shwartzman carry his successful form from Sarno to Precenicco and take another KFJ podium.
Just as he had done in his previous race with Jamie Croxfords Forza Racing team, Robert went straight into the Super Pole shoot-out, ultimately placing 9th overall in a close and tense session.
Bouncing back from a time penalty in the opening heat - for what the officials judged as a bad manoeuvre- Robert finished 9th in the second heat and 6th in the last of the preliminary races before Sundays all-important finals.
With a reduced entry, the organisers changed the format of the racing to three heats and two finals. With no separate groups, this effectively made each race a final, explained Forza team owner, Jamie Croxford. Consequently, that made the racing aggressive and quite frenetic because, to qualify for the pre-final, you had to improve throughout the meeting. In the cut and thrust of the opening heat, Robert was a little too enthusiastic.
Despite his earlier transgression, the Russian youngster had done more than enough to earn himself a fourth row start in the pre-final. A solid drive in the 17-lap encounter netted a fine 5th place at the chequered flag and the vital inside line of row three on the grid for the main final.
We were unlucky not to have finished higher. Before the pre-final started, the wind got up and made the track really dusty and slippery. The bigger drivers could use their weight to generate more mechanical grip, and so coped better in the conditions but the lighter ones were hindered, said Croxford.
As the leading pair duelled over the lead, Robert made the most of his lightning start to carve his way through the traffic into 3rd place.
Throughout the race Robert was under a lot of pressure from the drivers behind him. He did really well and didnt succumb to it. He was by far the best of the smaller drivers, and Ive said for the past four months that it was only a matter of time before he had a podium. I knew that once hed achieved that then more would come, and this latest success shows that hes thrown the psychological monkey off his back. His speed was never an issue but his racecraft and confidence needed to improve. Now he knows that he is capable of achieving top six finishes in every race, or at least top eight, I think well see him flourish.
The result moves Robert from 10th to 7th place in the championship with one round remaining.
In the KF class, Polands Igor Walilko recorded the 17th-fastest time in qualifying and finished in the same position in the first heat. He improved on this with 14th in the following heat, but suffered a DNF in the last; compromising his chances of qualifying higher up the order for the pre-final.
Undaunted, Igor delivered another solid performance that saw him move up the order to claim a respectable 14th place.
Starting the final from the outside row in the heart of the midfield didnt faze him. In fact, quite the opposite and he enjoyed his best race of the WSK season to date. Igor charged up into the top ten and from there picked his way forward to 7th place, delighting his team boss: Igor enjoyed his best ever performance. He made some mistakes in the heats but drove really well in the main final. He absorbed everything he experienced in qualifying and the heats, learned from it and then came through to 7th. I was as pleased with that, as Roberts podium. Like Robert, Igor will hopefully go on and improve from there.
