" NO PAIN, NO GAIN "
The 61st edition of the Macau Grand Prix - Intercontinental F3 Cup took place this weekend in the Macau city streets. Taking part in the event for the 14th time, SIGNATURE, who made their return to the single-seater category a few weeks ago in Imola during the FIA F3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP, was placing all their bets, in this gaming capital city, on the car driven by William Buller.
The British driver, with his #31 Dallara 314 VW, carrying the colours of the online casino FUN 88, was 4th and 13th fastest in free practice, then 8th and 15th in qualifying.
During Race 1 (which would set the starting grid for the Macau GP), his hopes of a good result were compromised. Pushed into another competitor at the start, he lost more than a lap due to a forced return to the pits (puncture and damage to the front and rear wings), eventually finishing 23rd after the ten-lap race.
In the final race, having started 23rd on the grid, he was once again caught up in a collision at the start (red flag and 30-minute race neutralisation, with ten cars involved), and the SIGNATURE team had to put a commando operation into operation to repair the car on the grid (half-axle, front and rear wings), to 17th. After five laps, William Buller was up to 13th position, but excessive understeer due to a bent suspension triangle from the collision provide to be a huge handicap and he was not able to finish higher than 14th.
A magical, but extremely frustrating weekend, despite a faultless performance from William Buller, Philippe SINAULT’s team deserved a result closer to their expectations.
PHILIPPE SINAULT - SIGNATURE TEAM PRINCIPAL :
« We were full of hope after the first free practice session, when we finished in P4, as we did after the first qualifying session, where William set the 8th best time without using new tyres Our strategy in Macau was to bet everything on the second qualifying session, as we knew, from our experience of the track, that it gets progressively faster. But during qualifying 2, William was complaining of heavy understeer on new tyres, and we did not have enough time during the session to make any changes to the set-up. So our time did not improve, which put us 15th on the grid for the qualifying race.
Then, even if I don’t like using the word, we were ‘unlucky’ on two occasions. First in an accident at the Lisboa corner at the start, which meant we had to go back to the pits to repair and rejoin in order to defend our grid position on the final race, and where we finished 23rd.
And then again at the start of the Grand Prix on Sunday, William was again a victim of the pile-up at the second corner ! We tried to repair the car on the grid while the race was neutralized, but once again we lacked time, and a bent triangle caused excessive understeer, which prevented us from getting a good result.
But as the saying goes, « No pain, no gain ». Macau remains a magical race for us, which we showed with William Buller, who, in terms of pure performance, was on the pace. This promises good things for 2015, when we intend to enter two or three Dallara 314 VW cars in the FIA F3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP. »
