ADD Motorsports driver Mitchell Gilbert hopes to finish the season with a flourish after securing more points in FIA Formula 3 European Championship.
The 18-year-old finished in 12th, 9th and 10th place at Zandvoort to continue his good run of form. Things could have been even better for the Twickenham racer if qualifying had gone smoother. But after finally finding his feet in the championship, he is now aiming for 50 points overall with two races to go.
He said: “It’s going in the right direction now. I was 12th and 10th in qualifying but should have been higher. “I made a mistake in one and the strategy didn’t work quite right in the other so it put me back a bit and I should have been sixth and eighth.
“I was not far off the same lap times as drivers who finished around third most of the weekend, so it could have been a very different week.
“But it’s more points on the board. We have two races left and we are aiming for 50 points overall, it’s a big ask, but I think that’s where we are at now and it’s doable if we can just get the qualifying right.”
In Race 1 Mitch started in 12th place but slipped back to 17th early on. However, he had turned it round by the end to finish back where he started and would have finished higher if he hadn’t have got stuck behind slower drivers.
He made a good start in Race 2, but although his pace was good, found it difficult to overtake those in front and ended up 9th.
In Race 3 he again dropped to 11th early on, although did well to finish in 10th.
He said: “It was a weekend with a lot of yellow and red flags and was difficult to overtake, but despite this my pace was really good and I wasn’t far off the lap times of the drivers who finished a lot higher up the grid.
“If things don’t go exactly to plan and you make a mistake the drivers around you will take advantage of it.“But we feel we are in a good place right now and if we can just get qualifying right we can be pushing further up.“We would like to finish 12th in the championship overall, which considering the start we had will be a good achievement.“It’s a lot better than it was, but we still know we can do better still.”
