• Impressive recovery from 16th to ninth in Saturday’s Feature Race• Ralph delivers mature overall performance during hectic weekend
Ralph Boschung skilfully avoided the usual Spa-Francorchamps traps to score valuable championship points in what proved to be a chaotic fifth round of this year’s GP3 Series (August 21-23). The JENZER MOTORSPORT ace battled to ninth in Saturday’s Feature Race and eighth in Sunday’s Sprint event to cement his 10th place in the 2015 Drivers’ standings.
It wasn’t long before Boschung, the youngest racer in the GP3 field, showed promise at the iconic Belgian Grand Prix venue as he set the third quickest time in Friday’s free practice. Unfortunately a rare fuel injection issue prevented the Swiss teenager from repeating this feat during Saturday morning’s qualifying and forced Ralph to start the afternoon contest from 16th on the grid.
Still, Boschung’s determination and maturity allowed him to gradually work his way through the field during an incident-filled Feature Race that prompted three Virtual Safety Car periods. As other more experienced rivals slipped up, Ralph carved his way through the order and was on the cusp of the points-paying positions in the closing stages of the race, hot on the heels of GP3 stalwart Alex Fontana.
Hurrying his fellow countryman along, the JENZER protégé benefited from a race control mix-up, which resulted in an extra lap for the entire field. Duly seizing the opportunity, Boschung pulled off a stunning move at the Bus Stop chicane to relieve Fontana of 10th place, which later became ninth after a flurry of post-race penalties.
Following on from this convincing points finish, the GP3 rookie entered Sunday’s Sprint event with high hopes, but a small mistake on his way to the grid saw him spin at the top of Eau Rouge, damaging his Pirelli tyres in the process.
Despite experiencing vibrations in the cockpit, Boschung managed to keep his composure and stay out of the troubles that marred the second race of the weekend.
Lining up ninth, Ralph had a decent start and made the most of the two early Virtual Safety Car periods to jump up to sixth. Plagued by his out-of-form compounds and the associated straight-line deficit, the 17-year-old dropped down a couple of positions but still salvaged the final point on offer, crossing the line in eighth.
“Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with our performance at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend,” declared Boschung afterwards. “Our pace was quite strong in free practice but we were unlucky in qualifying when we picked up this fuel injection problem. My engineer told me this was a very rare technical issue and we could only do a pair of flying laps in the end.
“Both races turned out to be filled with drama. In these bizarre circumstances, the key is to remain calm and drive cleanly to make sure you finish in the points. After the hiccup in quali, we recovered nicely and I’m glad our plan panned out.
“However, it was a shame about the off at Eau Rouge right before the Sprint event. I immediately apologised to JENZER MOTORSPORT, who have done an amazing job once again this weekend. I keep gathering experience with them in GP3 and I always strive to learn from my mistakes.
“As ever, I’d also like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to my main backer, B63, as well as the Valais-based construction company CP3, Champery-based Avanthay&Partners real estate and Moderntimes Hotel. I’d also like to thank all of the ‘Club 50’ members who continue to support me throughout my career.”
Ralph Boschung now heads to another classic racetrack, as the GP3 Series travel to Monza, with round six of the 2015 campaign serving as a support event to the Formula One Italian Grand Prix in two weeks’ time (September 4-6).
