After a somewhat unlucky Silverstone weekend, despite Ivar Kalamees scoring his second career FSR WC win and the team completing the podium with both GT Omega Racing cars, Precision Motorsports moved with mixed feelings towards the German grand prix - a race which the team had won three years in succession. After a couple of races where victory had slipped in the final moments, Bono Huis, now trailing Ivar Kalamees in the championship, was also eager to return back on top of the podium on a race which he had won twice in a row.
World Series
Due to the forced absence of Martin Gosbee, Rob van Starkenburg was the only championship contender driving for the team on Saturday, qualifying in P2 after a close session. After an excellent start, van Starkenburg was able to take the lead going into turn 1. After a well-executed pit stop the Dutch was seemingly in full control of the race, but disaster struck with 20 laps to go, as an internet issue followed by disconnection from the server ended his race early. Nick Rowland made a steady and relentless drive to collect some valuable points, finishing in P7. The results meant that Martin Gosbee would keep his championship lead, with van Starkenburg maintaining second place. The opposition of Twister Racing however closed in dramatically in both drivers and constructors championships.
WS Race analysis (Ondrej Kuncman)
"With Martin unable to participate we just needed to limit damage in the constructors and Rob’s disconnection from the lead very much damaged that plan. On the other hand Rob drove his best race of the season and I’m certain he will keep up the momentum into the next races. After his perfect start it was just a matter of controlling the position. The only tricky situation were first pit stops as letting Mallorqui pit first would make things reasonably complicated and due to traffic we couldn’t pit sooner, but it worked out pretty well and the only small worry would be Rob’s engine. Nick managed to recover P7 at least by a solid drive, but in Hungary we must get 1 2 to recover from this streak of bad luck."
Rob van Starkenburg commented:
"Qualifying went decently, I was 2nd with, 0.014 behind Eduard. My start was awesome, my reaction was a tiny bit faster than Eduard so I got alongside of him before t1 and I managed to go around the outside of T2/3 to take the lead. After the pit stops he spun off so I had a 5s lead. His pace was a bit faster, but the gap was going a bit up and down until 19 laps to go when my internet decided to shut down for a bit. I don’t have anything to say other than it’s really disappointing."
Nick Rowland commented:
"I had been given a great chance by Ondrej and the team to be placed in team one for the Nurburgring. After Martin not being able to race the team showed faith in me and it was a great privlege to drive in the main Precision team.
Pressure was on the deliver good results in Martin's absense. I had a solid start after a lack lustre qualifying. I battled understeer for the entire opening stint but once on fresh tyres I posted more respectable times. Had some good battles on track but one had me pointing the wrong way and had to fight back. Finished in 7th but I knew it could have been more. Many thanks to the team for letting me being in the first team though."
World Championship
A very close qualifying session saw Bono Huis narrowly securing pole position thanks to a stunning sector 3 time. At the start, Ivar Kalamees made the best job to improve from fourth to second place, ahead of Samuel Libeert. Both Bono and Ivar were executing a 3-stop strategy as planned up until the penultimate stop, where a pit crew issue would force Ivar to make an extra pit stop, which in the end cost him a secure podium place. Meanwhile Bono was able to finish without a single issue, taking his 4th season victory by a 28-second margin to Gergo Baldi. Ivar finished in third, just ahead of Jack Keithley in fourth and Rob van Starkenburg in sixth. Both Jack and Rob were on 2 stop strategy and only a bit heavier traffic than anticipated cost them even better result. The result meant that Bono moved back to championship lead ahead of Ivar, while Jack moved up to third place in the tables.
WC Race analysis (Ondrej Kuncman):
"We were aware of Twister’s qualifying pace and Bono did probably best Q2 lap of the season, doing PB and getting pole, which was step 1 to control the race. Second step was made by Ivar and his amazing start to get to P2. That allowed Bono to get away at which point Ivar was racing Libeert for P2. Libeert’s failure in the pits however made that easy as well. Going through the little traffic was without any problems for both Bono and Ivar. Jack started the race on hard tires, which would have worked out more than fine if many drivers behind him weren’t on soft tires, overtaking him. That increased traffic for Jack later on as well, but he managed it brilliantly and flawlessly overtook everyone he had to. Rob started on hard tires as well to increase options during the race and cover various scenarios. Rob drove a solid race, but small issues with brake pedal and a bit busy first stint couldn’t end up in better position than 6th. Towards end of the race Ivar got a strange bug in the pit stop that didn’t change his tires at all, resulting in an extra pit stop. He handled the recovery brilliantly and in the final stint even overtook Jack to get on the final podium. Opportunity for a 1 2 finish was lost, but at least we recovered some lost points from Silverstone and we are now 1 2 3 in the standings. Gap in the constructors championship is now basically unreachable and drivers championship looks fully under control, but the next few races will be decisive in terms of how early can titles be secured so we have to keep working."
Bono Huis (1st) commented:
"It was a rather easy race. It was crucial to get pole and then get away from the rest. I saw that I had better pace than the rest so after my 2nd stop I stopped pushing and hoped to make it to the finish. I had some connection issues the last few races, and I didn't know if it was fixed or not for this race. So it was quite horrible mentally, thinking every lap that it could be my last, but in the end we finished and took very important points for the championship."
Ivar Kalamees (3rd) commented:
"The race start went really well, I was able to overtake both of the Twister cars to get up to 2nd place and keep the position throughout the first stint. After the first pitstop I could relax as I had a big gap behind me. In the 2nd pitstop I didn't get new tires though, so I had to pit again and start pushing. Fortunately I managed to recover to 3rd."
Jack Keithley (4th) comented:
"Whole event was very nice for me. Qualifying couldn’t have gone much better and Race went good, could have been a podium finishing 1,2,3 for the team if it wasn’t for the traffic but I am still very pleased with the result. Thanks to the team again for another great car and roll onto dreaded Hungary."
Rob van Starkenburg (6th) commented:
"I had a decent start but almost everyone behind me started on soft. I was really struggling with a lot of understeer in the first few laps, especially in the dirty air. I made some mistakes and felt back to 15th. I was a bit stuck, but it didn't take long before they had to pit. As soon as I got in clean air I could get on my pace, although I had some problems with my brake pedal. After the second stop I found myself in 7th place. I had fresh soft and Dian in front of me had old hards so I was able to catch and overtake him pretty fast. 6th in the end is a decent result."
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Precision Motorsports Press
Official Press Release
written by Ondrej Kuncman
www.precision-motorsports.de
World Series
Due to the forced absence of Martin Gosbee, Rob van Starkenburg was the only championship contender driving for the team on Saturday, qualifying in P2 after a close session. After an excellent start, van Starkenburg was able to take the lead going into turn 1. After a well-executed pit stop the Dutch was seemingly in full control of the race, but disaster struck with 20 laps to go, as an internet issue followed by disconnection from the server ended his race early. Nick Rowland made a steady and relentless drive to collect some valuable points, finishing in P7. The results meant that Martin Gosbee would keep his championship lead, with van Starkenburg maintaining second place. The opposition of Twister Racing however closed in dramatically in both drivers and constructors championships.
WS Race analysis (Ondrej Kuncman)
"With Martin unable to participate we just needed to limit damage in the constructors and Rob’s disconnection from the lead very much damaged that plan. On the other hand Rob drove his best race of the season and I’m certain he will keep up the momentum into the next races. After his perfect start it was just a matter of controlling the position. The only tricky situation were first pit stops as letting Mallorqui pit first would make things reasonably complicated and due to traffic we couldn’t pit sooner, but it worked out pretty well and the only small worry would be Rob’s engine. Nick managed to recover P7 at least by a solid drive, but in Hungary we must get 1 2 to recover from this streak of bad luck."
Rob van Starkenburg commented:
"Qualifying went decently, I was 2nd with, 0.014 behind Eduard. My start was awesome, my reaction was a tiny bit faster than Eduard so I got alongside of him before t1 and I managed to go around the outside of T2/3 to take the lead. After the pit stops he spun off so I had a 5s lead. His pace was a bit faster, but the gap was going a bit up and down until 19 laps to go when my internet decided to shut down for a bit. I don’t have anything to say other than it’s really disappointing."
Nick Rowland commented:
"I had been given a great chance by Ondrej and the team to be placed in team one for the Nurburgring. After Martin not being able to race the team showed faith in me and it was a great privlege to drive in the main Precision team.
Pressure was on the deliver good results in Martin's absense. I had a solid start after a lack lustre qualifying. I battled understeer for the entire opening stint but once on fresh tyres I posted more respectable times. Had some good battles on track but one had me pointing the wrong way and had to fight back. Finished in 7th but I knew it could have been more. Many thanks to the team for letting me being in the first team though."
World Championship
A very close qualifying session saw Bono Huis narrowly securing pole position thanks to a stunning sector 3 time. At the start, Ivar Kalamees made the best job to improve from fourth to second place, ahead of Samuel Libeert. Both Bono and Ivar were executing a 3-stop strategy as planned up until the penultimate stop, where a pit crew issue would force Ivar to make an extra pit stop, which in the end cost him a secure podium place. Meanwhile Bono was able to finish without a single issue, taking his 4th season victory by a 28-second margin to Gergo Baldi. Ivar finished in third, just ahead of Jack Keithley in fourth and Rob van Starkenburg in sixth. Both Jack and Rob were on 2 stop strategy and only a bit heavier traffic than anticipated cost them even better result. The result meant that Bono moved back to championship lead ahead of Ivar, while Jack moved up to third place in the tables.
WC Race analysis (Ondrej Kuncman):
"We were aware of Twister’s qualifying pace and Bono did probably best Q2 lap of the season, doing PB and getting pole, which was step 1 to control the race. Second step was made by Ivar and his amazing start to get to P2. That allowed Bono to get away at which point Ivar was racing Libeert for P2. Libeert’s failure in the pits however made that easy as well. Going through the little traffic was without any problems for both Bono and Ivar. Jack started the race on hard tires, which would have worked out more than fine if many drivers behind him weren’t on soft tires, overtaking him. That increased traffic for Jack later on as well, but he managed it brilliantly and flawlessly overtook everyone he had to. Rob started on hard tires as well to increase options during the race and cover various scenarios. Rob drove a solid race, but small issues with brake pedal and a bit busy first stint couldn’t end up in better position than 6th. Towards end of the race Ivar got a strange bug in the pit stop that didn’t change his tires at all, resulting in an extra pit stop. He handled the recovery brilliantly and in the final stint even overtook Jack to get on the final podium. Opportunity for a 1 2 finish was lost, but at least we recovered some lost points from Silverstone and we are now 1 2 3 in the standings. Gap in the constructors championship is now basically unreachable and drivers championship looks fully under control, but the next few races will be decisive in terms of how early can titles be secured so we have to keep working."
Bono Huis (1st) commented:
"It was a rather easy race. It was crucial to get pole and then get away from the rest. I saw that I had better pace than the rest so after my 2nd stop I stopped pushing and hoped to make it to the finish. I had some connection issues the last few races, and I didn't know if it was fixed or not for this race. So it was quite horrible mentally, thinking every lap that it could be my last, but in the end we finished and took very important points for the championship."
Ivar Kalamees (3rd) commented:
"The race start went really well, I was able to overtake both of the Twister cars to get up to 2nd place and keep the position throughout the first stint. After the first pitstop I could relax as I had a big gap behind me. In the 2nd pitstop I didn't get new tires though, so I had to pit again and start pushing. Fortunately I managed to recover to 3rd."
Jack Keithley (4th) comented:
"Whole event was very nice for me. Qualifying couldn’t have gone much better and Race went good, could have been a podium finishing 1,2,3 for the team if it wasn’t for the traffic but I am still very pleased with the result. Thanks to the team again for another great car and roll onto dreaded Hungary."
Rob van Starkenburg (6th) commented:
"I had a decent start but almost everyone behind me started on soft. I was really struggling with a lot of understeer in the first few laps, especially in the dirty air. I made some mistakes and felt back to 15th. I was a bit stuck, but it didn't take long before they had to pit. As soon as I got in clean air I could get on my pace, although I had some problems with my brake pedal. After the second stop I found myself in 7th place. I had fresh soft and Dian in front of me had old hards so I was able to catch and overtake him pretty fast. 6th in the end is a decent result."
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 Ondrej Kuncman
www.precision-motorsports.de
