Faster Than Speed celebrated a very special weekend at Yeongam, with the team taking part in its 200th World Championship GP. Onboard the special-liveried FTS-P12, John-Eric Saxen picked up two points by finishing the inaugural Korean GP in 9th place.
WT race winner Zoltan Csuti made his WC debut, showing a very promising performance on his way to 12th.
First of all, we would like to thank our supporters, FSR admins, fellow drivers and team managers for all the very kind messages, congratulations and good wishes we received on the FSR RaceDepartment forums, Facebook and Twitter about our 200th World Championship GP!
In the World Championship, Giuseppe Marconi was unable to take part in the event due to technical issues. He was replaced by NetRex Grand Prix's Zoltan Csuti, who made his WC debut after winning the WT Yeongam race. He shone in Qualifying, setting the 10th fastest Q1 time and securing a spot in Q2 in his first ever WC Qualifying session. Despite a mistake in Sector 3 of his Q2 lap which cost him several grid positions, 9th on the grid was an impressive performance for a debutant. John-Eric Saxen missed out on Q2 by just one-and-a-half tenths and qualified 13th.
The cars of both John-Eric and Zoltan featured Ernesto De Angelis' 200th World Championship GP Special Livery, with the tribute to every driver who was raced for FTS in the FSR World Championship inside our iconic panther, and the 200th GP messages visible in the car from different angles. Both drivers made good and clean starts, gaining a few positions.
John-Eric drove a solid race, with a 4-stopper strategy, He was involved in several battles in the first stint. A tight battle with Varga ended in minor contact with Aalberts, which unfortunately was enough to dislodge the Ash Racing driver's front wing. Pitting a lap earlier than planned worked fantastically for John-Eric, avoiding traffic and gaining a few positions. He picked up more pace throughout the race, getting in front of Patel after his second stop and moving up to 11th after the last round of stops was finished. With points in mind, John-Eric overtook Masciulli for 10th after a hard battle, and gained a further position from Kostadinov, who was struggling with his engine, to finish the race in 9th place, picking up two valuable points.
Zoltan moved up to 8th in the opening lap and inmediately showed his class, battling hard against experienced drivers of the likes of De Wit or Patel, with whom he swapped overtaking moves in several occasions. Before the first of his 4 stops, overheating tyres forced him into a spin which resulted in contact with Werdmuller and several seconds lost. Zoltan recovered from the error strongly, showing good pace and overtaking both Disley and Kolarec to finish his first WC race in 12th place. With points close within reach, it was an impressive debut performance from the Hungarian. We thank our friends at NetRex GP for allowing Zoltan to jump into the FTS-P12 this weekend.
John-Eric Saxen (9th): "It was good to be able to score a couple of points in FTS' 200th WC race. Although I consider myself a veteran in this sport, it's still somewhat special to be driving for a team that has existed ever since the start of FSR.
Regarding my race, I was not feeling confident at all prior to the event, which reflected in my Qualifying result, not making it to the top-10. In the first stint there was not much to do, so I decided to pit a lap earlier, which meant I avoided a chaotic situation and gained a couple of places. In the second stint, I felt a bit more confident and was able to pass Patel during the pitstops. With Masciulli running on a slightly different strategy, I quickly caught him up in my final stint and managed to pass him after some wheel-to-wheel moments. In the final lap I caught Kostadinov, who had some sort of an issue, thus finishing in P9."
Zoltan Csuti (12th): "This was my first race in the World Championship, I had an opportunity to try myself at the highest level. I have won the World Trophy race and I like the track, so I was hoping for a top-10 result. Qualyfying was awesome, I got into Q2, but then I made a mistake at the end of the lap, so I was only 9th.
I tried to concentrate on the race after that. My start was good, I overtook a car, but then my tyres were overheated and it was very slippery in the first laps. Because of this, I made a mistake, hit the kerb and spun. I lost some positions due to the spin, so I tried to be faster and more consistent. At the end, I managed to overtake Disley and Kolarec, and I finished 12th. I'm a bit disappointed about this, because I think I was able to achieve a better result. Thanks to Ernesto (De Angelis) and Christian (Smirnoff) for the opportunity, and congratulations to Bono (Huis) for his championship title."
After such an special weekend, Faster Than Speed will now be moving to the Yas Marina Circuit, home of the Abu Dhabi GP, for the penultimate round of the 2012 season. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@FTS_Racing) and Google+ for the latest news and live coverage from Abu Dhabi!
Faster Than Speed
Press Release
http://www.fts-racing.net
