TO JUST MISS OUT ON TOP 12First year FIA Formula 3 European Championship racer Matt Solomon produced the drive of his season so far during the 74th Grand Prix de Pau on Sunday, 17th May, after just missing out on the coveted top 12 for Double R Racing at the tight and twisty French street circuit.
Experiencing mixed fortunes during rounds seven and eight of the season on Saturday, 16th May, the Hong Kong driver certainly saved the best for last in round nine – the blue riband race of the weekend – to climb his way through to a highly competitive 13th place finish from 20th on the grid.
Double R team-mate Nicolas Pohler also secured his best finish of the championship so far in the headline Grand Prix race on Sunday, the FIA F3 rookie concluding the challenging 28 lap contest in 22nd position for the Woking team.
“It’s been a big test for Matt and Nici this weekend, Pau isn’t a circuit for the faint-hearted but they did a great job and made good progress”, said Double R’s Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt, “Matt’s drive in the GP race was great, very competitive and easily his best performance of the season so far. Both he and Nici had their share of misfortune over the weekend but, in the end, it’s not been too bad at all.”
Solomon started race one of the weekend, round seven, from 27th position while Pohler began the encounter in 31st position and both Double R drivers made clean starts, although Solomon did slip back a couple of places.
Prior to an appearance for the Safety Car on lap 12, Solomon held 25th place with Pohler two spots further back. No sooner had the action resumed on lap 15, though, than the Safety Car was required again after Michele Beretta collided with the barriers.
When the action got back underway again on lap 18, Solomon moved into 24th place due to a pit-visit for a rival but Pohler’s race unfortunately came to an early conclusion when contact with the barriers led to damage and an enforced retirement.
Then, on lap 22, Solomon had an unfortunate spin after heavily clipping the kerb at the chicane but he recovered to finish in 25th position – also setting a personal best lap of 1m11.923 seconds on the 27th and final tour, within just 0.9 seconds of the best produced by race winner Jake Dennis.
For round eight on Saturday afternoon, Solomon lined-up 22nd on the grid and gained a position off the start after a good getaway. Frustratingly, though, his race was run on lap two when he lost the rear of the car through the left-hander at Virage du Pont Oscar and smacked the barriers.
Pohler, beginning the race in 29th position, gained a place on lap two through his team-mate’s retirement and after a brief Safety Car period – required to remove Solomon’s car – he moved up another position when Dorian Boccolaci pitted.
Lapping fractionally quicker than the cars ahead, Pohler edged closer through the middle part of the race before another Safety Car period was required. Racing resumed once more on lap 17 but yet another cautionary period followed a lap later after a couple of cars tangled.
Incredibly, after the third re-start, yet another incident occurred which this time resulted in a race stoppage when more than 10 cars came to a standstill at the hairpin where the track was blocked after contact in the mid order. The race was re-started with six minutes left on the clock and Pohler finished in 23rd position, with a best lap time just 0.7 seconds shy of top six pace.
In the GP race on Sunday, Solomon and Pohler started in 20th and 27th place respectively and fortunately avoided being caught-up in two separate incidents on the first lap which triggered the deployment of the Safety Car. When racing resumed on lap five, Solomon was able to quickly progress into 17th position while Pohler also gained a place to climb into 24th spot.
After problems for a couple of rivals halfway through the contest, Solomon gladly moved into 14th position and went on to grab 13th place on the 28th and final lap after an issue for Jake Dennis. The Double R racer just missed out on the top 12 by 0.5 seconds and he was also eighth in the rookie classification. His best lap of 1m11.487 seconds was only 0.8 seconds shy of the race winner’s best.
Pohler moved into 22nd position at mid-distance but was nudged back to 23rd by Brandon Maisano on lap 16. On the final lap, though, following Dennis’ problem, Pohler moved back into 22nd place to sign off the weekend with the best result of his rookie season so far.
Monza in Italy is next on the FIA Formula 3 European Championship calendar with rounds 10, 11 and 12 of the season scheduled to take place over the weekend 30th/31st May.
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