More points on the board for Stevens and Laine in Ricard
Excellent race one drive from Laine after superb testing pace secures seventh points result of 2014 while Stevens posts weekend best of eighth in race two
Formula Renault 3.5 Series front-runners Matias Laine and Will Stevens each delivered deserved points scoring results for Strakka Racing at Paul Ricard in southern France over the weekend, 27th/28th September, during the penultimate event of the season.
Laine’s ninth place result in round 14 on Saturday, following a great drive from 14thon the grid, was the clear highlight for the Finnish driver who remains 13thin the championship.
Stevens, meanwhile, goes into the season finale next month sixth in the standings while Strakka is also in the top six of the Team’s Championship.
Laine was extremely quick in collective testing on Friday, 26thSeptember, with the second fastest time overall, just 0.096 seconds shy of the outright pace. The pace wasn’t reflected in Laine’s qualifying and he started race one from 14thplace.
Team-mate Stevens began the encounter two positions higher up the order, on row six, and both Strakka drivers gained ground on the first lap before the Safety Car was deployed.
Running in 11thand 12thplaces respectively, Stevens and Laine made no mistakes at the re-start on lap four and shortly afterward the Finn managed to squeeze past his team-mate.
Making continued progress, Laine broke into the top 10 on lap seven after passing Nicholas Latifi and Stevens too gained a place at the expense of the Canadian a lap later.
Rapidly closing up behind Zoel Amberg, Laine worked hard to finds a way past his rival and on lap 15 the Strakka racer moved ahead into ninth.
He then set about reeling in Marco Sorensen and after stringing together some sensational laps, the Finn latched onto the tail of the Lotus F1 Team reserve driver with a couple of laps to go. At the flag on lap 22, only 0.3 seconds separated the pair.
After slipping to 12thplace on lap 15, having clattered the kerbs heavily in avoidance of another car, Stevens remained there for the rest of the contest.
Beginning round 15 on Sunday from 11thon the grid, Stevens moved into ninth place on the opening lap and looked very competitive. Running an early pit-stop strategy, the Briton took his mandatory stop on lap six and emerged in 13thposition.
When the race order had settled, Stevens held ninth position but after Beitske Visser made his late stop on lap 13 Stevens moved into eighth place which he held to the flag on lap 22.
Laine, who qualified 13thfastest roughly 0.2 seconds shy of his team-mate, gained three places on the opening lap to run close in the wheeltracks of Stevens and, remaining on track as a number of drivers began to serve their stops, he climbed the order.
Up into fourth place by the start of the ninth tour, the Finn made his pit visit at the end of the lap but emerged down in 19thplace and with a huge amount of work to do. Ultimately, he ended the encounter in 17thposition.
“Friday was fantastic, it was so nice to be second fastest and looking really good – so Saturday qualifying was a bit of a surprise but I was really pleased to pass five cars and get ninth place”, said Laine. “Sunday’s qualifying was cut short by a red flag but our race pace was again good, we just need more luck in quali!”
Stevens added: “We were quick in the first two sectors but couldn’t get the balance we wanted for the last sector. In the first race I had to hit a kerb to avoid another car and in the second we pitted early and jumped a couple of cars. I’m always quick at Jerez, so can’t wait for the final round.”
Jerez in Spain will be the venue for the finale of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series campaign over the weekend 18th/19th October.
Press Contact
Nick Bailey, 44 (0) 7813 956664
From early domestic campaigns with BMWs and Aston Martins, Strakka Racing has evolved to become one of the most respected and successful privateer teams in the World Endurance Championship. In 2010 the Silverstone-based team achieved a class win, five circuit records and fifth overall in the iconic Le Mans 24 Hours. Ever developing, in 2013 Strakka Racing entered the Formula Renault 3.5 litre World Series single seater championship, regarded as one of the best training grounds before F1. In 2014 Strakka Racing joins forces with esteemed Japanese chassis manufacturer DOME to develop, market and race the Strakka DOME S103 LMP2 chassis. Alongside the racing teams, it also runs Strakka Performance, providing professional racing drivers with bespoke programmes aimed at enhancing their on-track performance with dedicated track time and coaching in World Series by Renault cars. It has also created Zanardi Strakka Kart racing team and a Formula Renault 2.0 team, putting in place the building blocks to enable racing drivers to develop and refine their skills right from the start of their career, with a support infrastructure that goes beyond any typical racing team.
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