Zandvoort, 7th July 2013 - Indonesia’s Sean Gelael made encouraging progress in the prestigious RTL GP Masters of Formula 3 race at Zandvoort, but unluckily went out of the event with a crash at half-distance.
The 16-year-old once again visited a circuit he had never previously driven on, and as always was up against a host of international young talents with plenty of experience in Formula 3 and on the Dutch circuit of Zandvoort.
Gelael played himself in during Friday’s free practice, but was disappointed with Saturday’s opening qualifying session. Then, in the second qualifying session, he went 19th fastest to become the only driver to improve his grid position – to 21st place. With the sun warmer, track conditions were generally slower, so the fact that Sean’s Mercedes-powered Double R Racing Dallara went nearly a second faster than in the morning indicated the progress he was making.
“I was constantly learning the track,” he said. “I didn’t have a very good first qualifying session – I just couldn’t get good laps together in the traffic. Then we went to second qualifying and we used the same strategy as the others, going out on old tyres first and then switching to new ones. Then I was able to make the time and I was nine tenths of a second faster than earlier!”
As usual, Gelael made very strong progress on the opening lap to move up to 19th. He fended off an early challenge from Swiss racer Sandro Zeller, and moved up to 16th thanks to other incidents ahead. Although he then lost positions to Israeli Roy Nissany and Australian Spike Goddard, Sean was running in a very strong 18th place when the accident happened on the 13th lap of 25.
“My start actually wasn’t that good,” he said. “It certainly was not orthodox, because I missed the five-seconds-to-go board and everything was a bit of a rush! So I got wheelspin but despite this I made up places into the first corner.
“The race was getting better but unfortunately I made a couple of little mistakes. Then going into Turn 5 I understeered off, hit the grass and went straight into the wall. I’ve got bruising, but otherwise everything is OK.”
Still, it was critical experience for Sean, who will be back at the same track for an FIA Formula 3 European Championship round in September. “Now I know the track well,” he said, “so coming back to Zandvoort will be easier. We will just be starting where we left off.”
In the meantime, it’s the Norising street circuit in Germany next weekend, with three races counting towards the European championship on a tight track where fantastic action is guaranteed! (MS/arl)
