Racing Engineering qualifies 12th today at Silverstone with Gustav Malja

14/07/17 Racing Engineering qualifies 12th today at Silverstone with Gustav Malja.

It was warm at Silverstone, England, for the Thursday afternoon Practice session of the sixth round of the 2017 FIA Formula Two Championship with air and track temperatures of 20° and 35° respectively which is cooler than the teams have faced so far. Pirelli are supplying their P Zero Orange hard and P Zero Yellow soft compound tyres to the teams this weekend as the circuit put a lot of strain on the tyres with both high lateral and vertical loadings.

The Racing Engineering cars were the last two cars on the track but they were both quickly setting some very quick laps with Louis going 4^th on his first flying lap with a lap of 1:42.738 but he was almost immediately demoted by Gustav who was a little faster on 1:42.701 to take over 4th. After allowing their tyres to cool the Racing Engineering drivers were still amongst the fastest as Louis improved to 1:42.328 to go 4^th again and Gustav then reduced his time by almost three-quarters of a second to move up to 3^rd with a lap of 1:41.975.

After twenty-eight minutes the two cars were back in the pits for some set-up changes returning to the track with twenty minutes still to run and both men immediately went faster with Gustav down to 1:41.742 and Louis in 9^th on 1:41.631. Once again, the two cars returned to the pits with some ten minutes still to go, Louis was back on track with three minutes left but Gustav sat out the rest of the session. Louis did not improve his time so he finished the session in 10^th with Gustav 12^th.

Qualifying took place today at 15:15 and the weather was cloudy with air and track temperatures of 19° and 35° respectively, almost the same as yesterday. For this thirty-minute session the two Racing Engineering cars were fitted with the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft compound tyres as they fought for their grid position in tomorrow’s Feature Race. Again, Louis and Gustav were amongst the last cars out on track and it was the young Swiss who set the first quick lap, going 12^th on 1:40.470 but Gustav immediately went a little faster, setting a 1:40.301. After twelve minutes, both the cars returned to the pits for some set-up changes and a new set of soft tyres.

There were nine minutes of the session remaining when Gustav and Louis returned to the track but neither man was able to improve on his earlier times so they finished the session in 12^th and 14^th respectively and both will have to work hard to get into the points in tomorrow’s 29-lap race.

©FIA F2 Championship

©FIA F2 Championship

Team Comments:

Ines Koschutnig, Chief Executive Officer: “Starting 12th and 14th tomorrow here at Silverstone is not the result we were hoping for, but it leaves both drivers with a good chance for a points finish tomorrow and this is what we need to aim for. Not only do we want to see Louis and Gustav in the points tomorrow, but want to have good starting positions for Sunday’s race as well. We have seen in Austria how fast our cars have been and it has therefore hurt twice as much that we had to leave the Red Bull Ring without scoring a single point. Therefore, the main objective for this weekend is to take points with both drivers and in both races.”

Louis Delétraz: “This was a difficult qualifying and, again, not what we expected. We will have to work for tomorrow and have a good race, which will be important in making up some positions.”

Gustav Malja: “P12 is obviously good progress from Red Bull Ring. I am happy with that and generally feeling positive. From this start position we have a good chance tomorrow and on Sunday to do well and score good points. There is obviously still a bit of margin for us as we are not right where we want to be as we want to be in the top 10, but it’s a good step from the last qualifying. I am positive we can do well in these two races. So it’s heads down now and focus on making the best preparation we can and also the best race possible tomorrow.”