ADD Motorsports driver John Bryant-Meisner bowed out of this season’s FIA Formula 3 European Championship after encountering more of the same problems that have been a feature of recent weekends.
The Swedish racer was disappointed to find technical issues once again stopping him from racing at his full potential at the Red Bull Ring.
He left happy to have experienced the championship - but wishing he could have been as competitive as he was earlier in the season.
But now he’s looking forward to the next challenge that is currently being discussed by his team behind the scenes.
He said: “It has been the same problem every time. Every weekend we would hope it would be OK, but then soon found it hadn’t changed.
“It’s really frustrating, as we were quick enough early on in the season to really be up there, but every since Pau, it’s been really difficult.
“Fortec has done all they can and worked really hard, so it’s no fault of theirs.“Now we just look forward to what comes next.”
With a new engine, the practice sessions went the way the team were expecting.But it didn’t take long for the same issues to reappear.
He continued: “The car felt good and I did the lap of my life in the first qualifying – I was pushing as hard as I could. But I finished in 21st place. It was obvious we were going to have the same problems for the weekend.”With a 10-place grid penalty for changing the engine, John started last in each race.
He had a good start in Race 1, but was back to last after going off the track and treated the rest of the race like a practice. He found some speed at the end and caught up with a few of the drivers and finished 18th.There was a small improvement for the next qualifier that saw him placed 19th and John started Race Two brightly overtaking five other drivers on the first lap. He managed to get himself to 11th and wasn’t far off a Top 10 finish.He got off to a really good start again in Race 3 and overtook three or four drivers straight away but was hit by another driver that left him with a broken suspension and forced him to retire.
John added: “Race 2 was a pretty good effort despite the problems, but the weekend went pretty much the same way as they have been going in the weeks before. Technical problems have just held us back so much.“We had the chance to do so much better, but there was nothing we could do about it.“I’ve really enjoyed my time in the championship but it just didn’t work out this time - I’m sure I’ll be back one day.
“Fortec is a really high-spirited team, even in a tough situation – they’re really hard working and it’s been great working with them.
“Now it’s about the future. There are lots of options open to us, so it’s about choosing the right one. It’s exciting to be able to get into something new and see how we get on.”
