Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, 13th July 2015 - Indonesia’s Sean Gelael suffered a nightmare weekend at Austria’s Red Bull Ring in the latest round of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, which included one of the biggest accidents of his racing career.
Sean, who went into the weekend high on confidence as the Red Bull Ring is a circuit at which he thrived in Formula 3, was taken out of the first race in a dramatic crash.
Dutchman Meindert van Buuren went onto the grass exiting Turn 1 on the first lap, and as he came back onto the track he lost control, spearing across the circuit and collecting Gelael and Mexican Alfonso Celis Jr.
The Jagonya Ayam with Carlin team worked miracles to repair the wrecked car for race two, so Sean was hoping to repay their dedication with a strong result. But on the second lap a problem with the pneumatic air-pressure system meant he could not change gear and he was forced into the pits. The team quickly fixed the problem and sent Gelael back into the race one lap down.
Very soon he was beginning to turn lap times that were among the quickest of the race, even though a good result was a forlorn hope. Unfortunately, this excellent showing came to an end when 18-year-old Sean limped back into the pits with a front-right suspension problem, most likely a legacy of his crash in race one.
Even before the races it was a frustrating weekend. In the first free practice session Gelael was 12th fastest, less than nine tenths of a second from the pace, but a broken suspension in the second session cost him track time. He was 17th fastest in both qualifying sessions, and was hoping to improve on this in both races when misfortune struck.
“Results wise there is nothing really good to come out of this weekend,” said Sean. “But I must say that the guys did a really good job to get the car back together in one piece. My pace in race two was really good, but I began to feel a problem in the suspension and I did not want to risk another big accident, especially after such a huge effort to rebuild the car.
“The speed I had was really encouraging. Earlier in the weekend I was not confident in the braking, but after the crash I had new brakes in the car and it felt so much better. This is why the pace was so good – it was top-three pace for quite a few laps and sometimes as quick as the leaders.”
The other Jagonya Ayam with Carlin car of Tom Dillmann had another strong weekend, with the Frenchman claiming fifth in race one and eighth in race two.
The team now has a long break until the next round of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, at the famous British circuit of Silverstone on 5th-6th September. In the meantime, Gelael will make his debut in the GP2 Series at the Hungaroring in two weeks’ time, on the 25th-26th July. (ms/arl)
