Not much changed since the last encounter in the team's WC performance, as Bono Huis and Ronny Hähnel took their second double in a row.
World Series had not provided satisfactory results in the last couple of rounds, and the day did not become any easier after forced withdrawal from Mattias Stahre and pit lane start of Jeffrey Rietveld, leaving Cyril Werdmuller in fifth as the best qualifier. The little bit of joy was soon converted into displeasure, as Werdmuller's battle with Joakim Bengtsson ended in tears in a 50-50 race situation. The progress of Rietveld was meanwhile promising; a consistent drive with a well-executed 2-stop strategy saw the Dutch sail past opponents. After a last lap retirement, Rietveld was eventually able to carry home in fifth, one place below Fred Gosling, who scored yet another fourth place to highlight his consistency.
The lonely Precision drivers in for World Trophy, Allar Foht and Emre Uysal, settled at both ends of the grid after qualifying, with Foht on pole and Uysal in last. The race was seemingly a fight between Foht and Mark Aalberts, in which Foht had the upper hand, but unfortunately suffered from clumsy moves by back markers on his out-lap, costing the Estonian any chance to remain close to Aalberts. A final furious attempt saw the Estonian set the fastest lap - not enough for victory, but a second place nevertheless.
World Championship offered a somewhat more relaxed drive for the Precision drivers, since both World Championship titles had already been secured at Singapore. Ronny Hähnel took his second career pole by being the only man breaking the 1:30 mark, while Bono Huis had to settle for third. An early overtaking of Kerkhof saw Huis disappear into the distance together with Hähnel, but the duo faced a threat from 1-stopping cars behind. After a difficult qualifying Rasmus Tali took the lead of the race by switching to a 1-stop strategy, but the Estonian was passed on the fresh-rubbered Huis and eventually by Hähnel after highlight fights. At the end of day, the results speak for themselves: another victory for Huis, followed by Hähnel and Tali, with Mikkonen in sixth place - the best result that the team has ever scored in the WC.
With two races to go (and three in WS), Precision has now secured 5 out 6 possible championships, the one remaining being the World Series drivers' title. The hunt for the final title continues in a week's time, at the legendary Interlagos circuit.
Ondrej Kuncman, team manager commented:
"Quite mixed feelings from the weekend. Obviously the WS race went totally against our plan and the penalties in WC didn't leave the best impression either. With 3 races to go De Matos is closing quickly so we need to make sure we can strike back in Brazil and get some reasonable results. As far as World Championship goes, the gap behind Twister with Mak Corp team is just a bit over 20 points. That leaves us confident for the remaining races and since AutoGP winners are decided, this will be the main aim from now on. Congratulations to Bono, Ronny and Rasmus for great race. Now onto one of the greatest tracks, Brazil."
Bono Huis (1st) commented:
"I was quite disappointed with my qualifying, usually it's one of my strong points but here in Suzuka I could never put the lap together. So I could only manage P3. In the first few laps it was important to keep close to Ronny, but I had to pass Atze if I wanted to stay close. I had to take some risks then and in Lap2 I passed him in turn 1 and could immediately close the gap to Ronny. I stayed behind for a couple of laps, I wanted to create a gap to Atze and when we managed that I passed Ronny and we were increasing the lead even more. It became clear in the 2nd stint that Atze and Rasmus were on a 1 stop strategy, this meant I had to push like crazy the whole 2nd stint. When Ronny and I made our 2nd stop we came out behind them and then I had to pass Ronny, Atze and Rasmus on track if I wanted to win. In the end it was quite easy to pass them with the fresher tyres and the crazy slipstream effect. My main opponent was Ronny but he was too busy fighting with Rasmus which meant I could create a nice comfortable gap and take another win! Thank you to the whole team again for the great work."
Rasmus Tali (3rd) commented:
"Q: Nothing special and because of that p7.
R: Was cautious the first lap not to get damage, after that started to pass drivers one by one until I got behind Kerkhof and decided it was more efficient to stay behind him and not lose time with battling.
After first and only stop I came out behind Kerkhof again, but as I knew I had slightly better pace, I wanted to pass him as fast as possible to get full potential out of new tyres.
14 laps to go Bono caught me and we had a nice battle, but unfortunately I had little chance with my older tyres. After that Ronny was behind me and we battled until the final lap, but lack of grip compared to 2 stopping guys made it hard to have good exit out of Spoon in the last laps, so I had to settle with 3rd position.
Overall it was really exciting race from my view and the fact that with this race I secured AutoGP prize is quite incredible as I have been dreaming about driving a single seater since I started watching F1 some 12 years ago.
Thanks for the team and congrats for another great result, see you in Brazil."
Jeffrey Rietveld (5th) commented:
"My race went pretty much as I expected. I had a pit lane start which didn't make the race easy at all.
In the first stint I decided to push but just in limits so that I wouldn't crash and after a few laps I gained a few spots from people who retired. I stopped quite late compared to a few others for my first stop, which meant that I would close in really fast on the people in front of me. Halfway in the stint I was in 9th position. In my third stint I managed to pass another few people which did put in me in 5th.
Happy with the result but I know that there was more in it if I didn't have this penalty."
Fred Gosling (4th) commented:
"I've been very satisfied with my results recently, and this result was no exception. Qualifying wasn't ideal but I was confident my race pace would be solid. The race itself was fairly routine, I had some nice battles with Muhammed and also had some luck to reach my final position. Once again I must thank the team for giving me a fast car. I would also like to wish good luck to Mattias and Cyril as they go for the drivers' title and of course congratulate all my team mates on securing the World Series team title."
Precision Motorsports
Official Press Release
written by John-Eric Saxen
www.precision-motorsports.de
World Series had not provided satisfactory results in the last couple of rounds, and the day did not become any easier after forced withdrawal from Mattias Stahre and pit lane start of Jeffrey Rietveld, leaving Cyril Werdmuller in fifth as the best qualifier. The little bit of joy was soon converted into displeasure, as Werdmuller's battle with Joakim Bengtsson ended in tears in a 50-50 race situation. The progress of Rietveld was meanwhile promising; a consistent drive with a well-executed 2-stop strategy saw the Dutch sail past opponents. After a last lap retirement, Rietveld was eventually able to carry home in fifth, one place below Fred Gosling, who scored yet another fourth place to highlight his consistency.
The lonely Precision drivers in for World Trophy, Allar Foht and Emre Uysal, settled at both ends of the grid after qualifying, with Foht on pole and Uysal in last. The race was seemingly a fight between Foht and Mark Aalberts, in which Foht had the upper hand, but unfortunately suffered from clumsy moves by back markers on his out-lap, costing the Estonian any chance to remain close to Aalberts. A final furious attempt saw the Estonian set the fastest lap - not enough for victory, but a second place nevertheless.
World Championship offered a somewhat more relaxed drive for the Precision drivers, since both World Championship titles had already been secured at Singapore. Ronny Hähnel took his second career pole by being the only man breaking the 1:30 mark, while Bono Huis had to settle for third. An early overtaking of Kerkhof saw Huis disappear into the distance together with Hähnel, but the duo faced a threat from 1-stopping cars behind. After a difficult qualifying Rasmus Tali took the lead of the race by switching to a 1-stop strategy, but the Estonian was passed on the fresh-rubbered Huis and eventually by Hähnel after highlight fights. At the end of day, the results speak for themselves: another victory for Huis, followed by Hähnel and Tali, with Mikkonen in sixth place - the best result that the team has ever scored in the WC.
With two races to go (and three in WS), Precision has now secured 5 out 6 possible championships, the one remaining being the World Series drivers' title. The hunt for the final title continues in a week's time, at the legendary Interlagos circuit.
Ondrej Kuncman, team manager commented:
"Quite mixed feelings from the weekend. Obviously the WS race went totally against our plan and the penalties in WC didn't leave the best impression either. With 3 races to go De Matos is closing quickly so we need to make sure we can strike back in Brazil and get some reasonable results. As far as World Championship goes, the gap behind Twister with Mak Corp team is just a bit over 20 points. That leaves us confident for the remaining races and since AutoGP winners are decided, this will be the main aim from now on. Congratulations to Bono, Ronny and Rasmus for great race. Now onto one of the greatest tracks, Brazil."
Bono Huis (1st) commented:
"I was quite disappointed with my qualifying, usually it's one of my strong points but here in Suzuka I could never put the lap together. So I could only manage P3. In the first few laps it was important to keep close to Ronny, but I had to pass Atze if I wanted to stay close. I had to take some risks then and in Lap2 I passed him in turn 1 and could immediately close the gap to Ronny. I stayed behind for a couple of laps, I wanted to create a gap to Atze and when we managed that I passed Ronny and we were increasing the lead even more. It became clear in the 2nd stint that Atze and Rasmus were on a 1 stop strategy, this meant I had to push like crazy the whole 2nd stint. When Ronny and I made our 2nd stop we came out behind them and then I had to pass Ronny, Atze and Rasmus on track if I wanted to win. In the end it was quite easy to pass them with the fresher tyres and the crazy slipstream effect. My main opponent was Ronny but he was too busy fighting with Rasmus which meant I could create a nice comfortable gap and take another win! Thank you to the whole team again for the great work."
Rasmus Tali (3rd) commented:
"Q: Nothing special and because of that p7.
R: Was cautious the first lap not to get damage, after that started to pass drivers one by one until I got behind Kerkhof and decided it was more efficient to stay behind him and not lose time with battling.
After first and only stop I came out behind Kerkhof again, but as I knew I had slightly better pace, I wanted to pass him as fast as possible to get full potential out of new tyres.
14 laps to go Bono caught me and we had a nice battle, but unfortunately I had little chance with my older tyres. After that Ronny was behind me and we battled until the final lap, but lack of grip compared to 2 stopping guys made it hard to have good exit out of Spoon in the last laps, so I had to settle with 3rd position.
Overall it was really exciting race from my view and the fact that with this race I secured AutoGP prize is quite incredible as I have been dreaming about driving a single seater since I started watching F1 some 12 years ago.
Thanks for the team and congrats for another great result, see you in Brazil."
Jeffrey Rietveld (5th) commented:
"My race went pretty much as I expected. I had a pit lane start which didn't make the race easy at all.
In the first stint I decided to push but just in limits so that I wouldn't crash and after a few laps I gained a few spots from people who retired. I stopped quite late compared to a few others for my first stop, which meant that I would close in really fast on the people in front of me. Halfway in the stint I was in 9th position. In my third stint I managed to pass another few people which did put in me in 5th.
Happy with the result but I know that there was more in it if I didn't have this penalty."
Fred Gosling (4th) commented:
"I've been very satisfied with my results recently, and this result was no exception. Qualifying wasn't ideal but I was confident my race pace would be solid. The race itself was fairly routine, I had some nice battles with Muhammed and also had some luck to reach my final position. Once again I must thank the team for giving me a fast car. I would also like to wish good luck to Mattias and Cyril as they go for the drivers' title and of course congratulate all my team mates on securing the World Series team title."
Precision Motorsports
Official Press Release
written by John-Eric Saxen
www.precision-motorsports.de
