Le Mans, Prancis, 27^th September 2015 - Sean Gelael experienced a tough weekend in the latest round of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Le Mans, finishing both races disappointingly far down the field.

As usual the Indonesian showed some real promise in his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin car, but things never came together at the right time.

Sean was ninth fastest in free practice on Friday, raising hopes of his third points-scoring finish in Formula Renault 3.5, and easily within one second of the fastest time, set by his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin team-mate Tom Dillmann.

Then in first qualifying he was fifth fastest on the first runs, only to drop to 16^th by the end of the session. He made a good start and rose to 14^th position in the race, but then lost two places with a few laps to go. After this he was one of the fastest drivers on the track as the race drew towards its finish.

Gelael was 16^th on the grid once again for race two, but made great progress early in the race. He moved up to 14^th on lap one, passed Swede Gustav Malja for 13^th on lap two, and was then involved in a frantic battle with Filipino driver Marlon Stockinger before the pit stops, rising to 11^th by the time he came in for his change of tyres.

Unfortunately, at the critical pit stop, Sean was delayed several seconds due to a problem, dropping him to 17^th. Although he was able to catch up the field once again, this is the position he stayed in until the end.

“It was just an overall bad weekend,” said Gelael. “We started off really strong, but after this I could not find the balance and the technique in the last sector. In the second race I went from 16^th to 11^th but unfortunately the pit stop was a bit messy and that dropped me down the order. Really disappointing, as I think we had pace to possibly get some more points.”

Dillmann scored more good points in the other Jagonya Ayam with Carlin car, taking third place in race one and fifth in race two.

Sean now moves to Sochi for his next race outing, supporting the Russian Grand Prix on the weekend of 9^th-11^th October, before the final round of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series the following weekend at Jerez in Spain.  (ms/arl)