Sprint race
– In a race marred by four safety car periods, the three ART Grand Prix drivers seized every opportunity possible to move up the rankings.
– Grégoire Saucy secured 8th place and Kaylen 10th, after moving up 7 positions. Meanwhile, Niko (11th) missed out opening his scorecard by the skin of his teeth.
Feature race
– From 2nd place on the grid, Grégoire drove a solid race, managing his tires, his opponents and two race neutralizations without being worried at all. He secured his first podium of the season, as well as the fastest lap and moved up to 2nd place in the championship.
– Kalyen and Niko had an eventful race in the middle of the pack. The young Bulgarian was hit by a rival on three different occasions but made the most of his experience by managing to go the full race distance.
– Kaylen hit Niko in a braking zone while running behind the safety car. The misunderstanding between the two team-mates caused the American racer to retire on lap 5.
Sébastien Philippe:
“It was an intense weekend, full of new things, and the team is rewarded with the first podium of the year. Greg has not left the top 8 in 4 races; his consistency and progress are assets for a long season where consistency at the front of the field is crucial. Kaylen had a shaky weekend in qualifying but bounced back with a point in the sprint race where he was very combative. Niko is impressively calm and mature both on and off the track despite all the glitches he encountered. He is improving with every weekend and his talent will soon find its just reward. The team will take advantage of the break before three consecutive race weekends so they can learn the lessons from Bahrain and Melbourne”.
Grégoire Saucy:
“A big thank you to the team because, even though free practice was not easy, the car had very good balance in qualifying and the race. On Sunday, it allowed me to attack and open up a gap, then to manage two restarts without suffering from tire degradation. I could never get close enough to try to take the lead because I was faster in the corners, but a bit less on the straights. We’ve always been among the fastest since the winter tests, now we need to find a tad more performance to clinch pole position and victory”.
Copyright: Dutch Photo Agency
