The opening FSR weekend brought a victory in World Series and second place in World Championship
The Formula SimRacing 2012 season opener took place at Melbourne, where Precision entered the World Series with returning driver Fred Gosling and new acquisition Jack Keithley. It was, however, Peter Duivelaar who impressed the most in qualifying, putting up a stunning effort on the decesive moment in Qualifying 2, giving the Dutch his third pole in a row, including the 2011 results. Keithley settled for P5 on the grid, with Gosling and Cyril Werdmuller on P10 and P11.
At the race start, Duivelaar was able to keep in front, whereas Werdmuller was once again unlucky in the turn 1 mayhem. Meanwhile Jack Keithley made good progress to overtake Ivar Kalamees for third, but the Briton was pushed back a couple of positions after a technical issue.
After a mistake with the pit stops from Eduard Mallorqui, Duivelaar had built up a safe gap which made it possible for the Dutch to save his equipment and finish in an unquestionable victory in the season opener.
The remain team was less lucky, as a race-long fighting with cars ahead resulted in brake failure for Jack Keithley in the closing stages. Werdmuller and Gosling finished outside the top 10 as well after incident-compromised races.
World Championship saw reigning champion Bono Huis and Mikko Puumalainen back in action. The qualifying session was somewhat compromised; although Bono Huis managed to get third behind Morgand Morand and Stoffel Vandoorne, Puumalainen had to settle for a disappointing 18th on the grid.
A few laps into the race, it was obvious that the race pace of the team looked better, as Huis was eager to get past Vandoorne, eventually succeeding on lap 10 after a couple of questionable moves from the driver ahead. The pace of the reigning champion remained strong, but the gap to Morand had grown to 8 seconds at this point. Meanwhile Puumalainen was making a steady progress, assisted by the Finn's two-stop strategy.
After a race-long battle for tenths against Morand, Huis crossed the finishing line in second place, making a strong finish after the difficult moments in the first part of the race. Puumalainen managed to hold P8 onto the last moments of the race, but eventually the Finn's tires forced him to settle for 9th place.
An eventful and somewhat compromised weekend saw Precision nevertheless take the lead in World Series drivers' championship, while holding P2 both in the World Series and World Championship constructors' championship. The next round will take place at Sepang in two weeks time. Stay tuned!
Bono Huis commented:
"My Q2 wasn't good at all, I noticed there was less grip than before so I was struggling a bit. Still I should have done better, I could have easily qualified 2nd, but I qualified 3rd instead. I tried to pass Stoffel in the 1st lap but he defended quite well and I lost a lot of time behind him in the next 8 laps. After I passed Stoffel I tried to close the gap to Morgan, we were very close in terms of laptime so there was not much I could do with an 8 second gap. So the rest of the race was quite boring, in the end I can be happy with P2, maximum possible result considering all events."
Peter Duivelaar commented:
"Qualifying went very well, like last season I managed to get a good result in Q2, even getting pole position which I knew was very important here.
I kept first place from the start onwards, in first stint I was under pressure from Mallorqui and Jack, but they both had problems at the first stop. I had a 10 second gap after that and that remained the same for about the whole race.
In the final laps Jack lost his brakes, and I immediately got the instructions to move brake bias foreward and be very easy on the brakes, so this 10 second gap proved to be very important and I was very happy to cross the line in first place.
This was the start I hoped for, its a pity though we couldn't make a 1-2 for Precision Motorsports, but I'm confident we will show the same strength the upcoming races."
Team Manager Ondrej Kuncman commented:
"Mixed feelings from the first weekend. in WS Peter drove a flawless race and even though Jack ran quite safe settings, the failure gave us a big warning for Sunday. We decided not to take any risks and take very safe approach to the race, which turned out to be the correct choice. Bono would have been stuck behind Morand most probably, so considering the situation P2 was probably the maximum. Mikko had a difficult qualification, but recovery to P9 is respectable. Overtaking in the next 2 tracks will be much easier and brake wear lower so I am sure we will be much stronger there."
To follow the progress of the team during the season, make sure to join us on Facebook and Twitter.
Precision Motorsports Press
Official Press Release
written by John-Eric Saxen
www.precision-motorsports.de
The Formula SimRacing 2012 season opener took place at Melbourne, where Precision entered the World Series with returning driver Fred Gosling and new acquisition Jack Keithley. It was, however, Peter Duivelaar who impressed the most in qualifying, putting up a stunning effort on the decesive moment in Qualifying 2, giving the Dutch his third pole in a row, including the 2011 results. Keithley settled for P5 on the grid, with Gosling and Cyril Werdmuller on P10 and P11.
At the race start, Duivelaar was able to keep in front, whereas Werdmuller was once again unlucky in the turn 1 mayhem. Meanwhile Jack Keithley made good progress to overtake Ivar Kalamees for third, but the Briton was pushed back a couple of positions after a technical issue.
After a mistake with the pit stops from Eduard Mallorqui, Duivelaar had built up a safe gap which made it possible for the Dutch to save his equipment and finish in an unquestionable victory in the season opener.
The remain team was less lucky, as a race-long fighting with cars ahead resulted in brake failure for Jack Keithley in the closing stages. Werdmuller and Gosling finished outside the top 10 as well after incident-compromised races.
World Championship saw reigning champion Bono Huis and Mikko Puumalainen back in action. The qualifying session was somewhat compromised; although Bono Huis managed to get third behind Morgand Morand and Stoffel Vandoorne, Puumalainen had to settle for a disappointing 18th on the grid.
A few laps into the race, it was obvious that the race pace of the team looked better, as Huis was eager to get past Vandoorne, eventually succeeding on lap 10 after a couple of questionable moves from the driver ahead. The pace of the reigning champion remained strong, but the gap to Morand had grown to 8 seconds at this point. Meanwhile Puumalainen was making a steady progress, assisted by the Finn's two-stop strategy.
After a race-long battle for tenths against Morand, Huis crossed the finishing line in second place, making a strong finish after the difficult moments in the first part of the race. Puumalainen managed to hold P8 onto the last moments of the race, but eventually the Finn's tires forced him to settle for 9th place.
An eventful and somewhat compromised weekend saw Precision nevertheless take the lead in World Series drivers' championship, while holding P2 both in the World Series and World Championship constructors' championship. The next round will take place at Sepang in two weeks time. Stay tuned!
Bono Huis commented:
"My Q2 wasn't good at all, I noticed there was less grip than before so I was struggling a bit. Still I should have done better, I could have easily qualified 2nd, but I qualified 3rd instead. I tried to pass Stoffel in the 1st lap but he defended quite well and I lost a lot of time behind him in the next 8 laps. After I passed Stoffel I tried to close the gap to Morgan, we were very close in terms of laptime so there was not much I could do with an 8 second gap. So the rest of the race was quite boring, in the end I can be happy with P2, maximum possible result considering all events."
Peter Duivelaar commented:
"Qualifying went very well, like last season I managed to get a good result in Q2, even getting pole position which I knew was very important here.
I kept first place from the start onwards, in first stint I was under pressure from Mallorqui and Jack, but they both had problems at the first stop. I had a 10 second gap after that and that remained the same for about the whole race.
In the final laps Jack lost his brakes, and I immediately got the instructions to move brake bias foreward and be very easy on the brakes, so this 10 second gap proved to be very important and I was very happy to cross the line in first place.
This was the start I hoped for, its a pity though we couldn't make a 1-2 for Precision Motorsports, but I'm confident we will show the same strength the upcoming races."
Team Manager Ondrej Kuncman commented:
"Mixed feelings from the first weekend. in WS Peter drove a flawless race and even though Jack ran quite safe settings, the failure gave us a big warning for Sunday. We decided not to take any risks and take very safe approach to the race, which turned out to be the correct choice. Bono would have been stuck behind Morand most probably, so considering the situation P2 was probably the maximum. Mikko had a difficult qualification, but recovery to P9 is respectable. Overtaking in the next 2 tracks will be much easier and brake wear lower so I am sure we will be much stronger there."
To follow the progress of the team during the season, make sure to join us on Facebook and Twitter.
Precision Motorsports Press
Official Press Release
written by John-Eric Saxen
www.precision-motorsports.de
