GP3 2017 - Round 01 - Barcelona
First Round of the Season after 6 days testing in Estoril, Barcelona and Valencia, the 2 Jenzer Drivers, Arjun Maini and Alessio Lorandi are eager to start the battle on the track.
The Week End started well for Arjun Maini as he was officially announced as a Haas F1 Team Development Driver which will put on him a lot of pressure but in the same time having the opportunity to get supported by a Formula 1 Team.
The program remained the same as the previous years with Free Practice on Friday Evening, Qualifying and Feature Race on Saturday and the Sprint Race on Sunday morning (with the top 8 reverse from the Race 1 result). The new feature for this 2017 Campaign was the introduction of the DRS (Drag Reduction System) on the GP3 car to get closer and closer to a F1 car with a limitation on the number of usage (6 for the Feature Race and 4 for the Sprint Race).
Free Practice went as on plan for Arjun Maini who looked strong by signing the 2nd fastest lap time of the session behind the Japanese driver from ART , Nirei Fukuzumi. A bit more difficult session from his team mate who encountered some problems and finished last. But the team worked hard other night to find solutions to his problem and being able to give him a fast car for the qualifying session.
Solid qualifying for the two Jenzer Drivers as Arjun qualified his black and blue car on P6 and Alessio recovered his form to put his car just behind his team mate in P7.
As the team showed during the pre season tests, the race pace from the Jenzer cars were strong and it is with good expectations that Arjun and Alessio took the start of the first race of the season. The two drivers had a good start and they were P5 and P6 at the end of the first lap. It was all about managing the tyres and the use of the DRS to be able to make a good result and at that game, Alessio Lorandi made a fantastic job, making a brilliant race from P7 to P3. Arjun Maini didn't manage as well the DRS as he falled under attack three times during the race and had to settle to P7 at the chequered flag - which allows him to start from the first row in Race 2 on sunday morning. Good job from the whole Jenzer Crew which placed Jenzer Motorsport P2 in the Team Championship after the first race.
After having experienced the use of the DRS and the level of degradation of the tyres in the first race of the season, the two drivers learnt what to correct for the morning race. A perfectly managed race from Arjun Maini who got away from P2 into P1 at the first corner, resisted to a few attacks from Dorian Boccolacci Pro for the first 5 laps before going away with a solid pace to have a clear 6 sec gap at the chequered flag. Another brilliant race from Alessio Lorandi who clinched another podium starting P6.
A great thank you to the whole Jenzer Crew who is leaving Spain with the drivers in P2 and P3 in the championship and P2 in the Team Championship.
