Imola, Italy, 12^th October 2014 - Indonesia’s Sean Gelael was back in the points as the FIA Formula 3 European Championship resumed after a two-month break at the historic Imola circuit in Italy.

Gelael drove to 10^th position from a qualifying position of 10^th in the first race of the weekend with his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, his seventh points finish of the season.

With two days of testing during the week to allow the drivers to acclimatise once again to their high-tech machinery, Sean had a highly encouraging run and was third fastest in the third of the four sessions, his most competitive showing to date.

He then put in a strong performance to take 10^th on the grid for race one, despite missing the final few minutes when he crashed while avoiding new Toro Rosso Formula 1 signing Max Verstappen. “Verstappen slowed right down,” said Gelael. “I got into a real tankslapper as a result and hit the wall hard – and my best lap up until then was such a bad lap, so I could have been much higher up.”

A dramatic race started with Sean losing places when he had to lift off to avoid Italian Antonio Fuoco and Austrian Lucas Auer. That dropped him to 12^th, and he was battling to repass Dutchman Dennis van de Laar when they both ran wide. Nevertheless, Gelael remained 12^th and then managed to progress to 10^th by the end of the race.

“The pace was good,” he said. “We tried some different things in the car and it was better, so I was really happy with the progress and getting a point.”

Sean qualified 15^th for the second race and 13^th for the third, denied the chance to move forward when the session was halted with seven minutes remaining and not restarted.

In race two he moved up to 13^th, but was then edged onto the grass while trying to pass Israeli Roy Nissany and lost some ground. Later in the race Nissany spun, and Gelael had to brake to avoid him, and finally took 16^th place.

“I wasn’t right on the limit yet when qualifying was stopped,” he said. “The track conditions had changed since earlier and I didn’t adapt as quickly as before. I did a bit of a silly move on Nissany and went on the grass, and it was a tough race, but at least we finished.”

Sadly, Sean did not finish the final race. He was battling for 14^th place with New Zealander Nick Cassidy when he got edged wide, forcing him into a spin and then into the barriers. “I tried to do a cutback on Nick, he fell for it and ran a bit wide, but I was on the outside for the next corner and I got pushed wide,” he said. “There was nothing I could do and I hit the wall. It’s really annoying, because I had finally found my speed, not only in driving but in the car.”

Another successful weekend for the Jagonya Ayam with Carlin team featured a fifth win of the season for Tom Blomqvist, who also claimed a third and a fifth. Meanwhile, Antonio Giovinazzi also scored a third and a fifth.

The final round of the championship is next weekend, at Hockenheim in Germany on 17^th-19^th October. (ms/arl)