John-Eric Saxen delivered another strong performance after a fantastic Qualifying at Montreal, finishing the FSR WC Canadian GP in 5th place. After driving a very inteligent race, John-Eric equalled his best result of the season to date.
Carlos Hernandez also scored points for the team in the WS race.
In the World Championship, John-Eric Saxen drove an excellent lap in Q1 to set the 3rd quickest time, securing a top-ten Q2 spot. Team-mate Giuseppe Marconi qualified 19th. In the Q2 session, John-Eric drove another solid lap to secure 3rd on the grid, equalling the best Qualifying of his WC career, despite a minor lock-up into the final chicane which cost him the chance of a front row start.
John-Eric lost a place to Room at the start, keeping P4 until the first round of stops, despite not being entirely comfortable with the balance of his race setup. Making a late pitstop, John-Eric briefly took P1 as the leading trio stopped, leading Faster Than Speed's first WC lap of the season. Unable to keep Morand and Nilsson behind with the balance issues, John-Eric lost 6th to Tali as the Estonian emerged ahead after pitting a lap later than the FTS driver.
The decision to choose conservative brake ducts and manage the gaps to optimise brake cooling, however, paid off significantly. John-Eric was able to capitalise on the brake failures suffered by Morand and Tali, gaining two places in the final lap to finish in 5th position, scoring 10 valuable points. While crossing the line just 6 seconds behind the podium finishers left John-Eric wondering what could have been possible with a better-balanced car, it was another solid performance from the Finn, equalling the result achieved at Shanghai.
Giuseppe, meanwhile, overtook Disley at the start, before showing solid pace in the opening stint. A drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane, however, ended his chances of remaining in the midfield battle. Despite the setback, Giuseppe still reached the finish line, ending the race in 15th place.
John-Eric Saxen (5th): "I was a bit surprised to be third in both Qualifying 1 and 2. The Q1 lap was very good while in Q2 I locked the rear wheels slightly for the final corner. Anyhow, this equalled my best starting position in WC.
For the race I had mixed expectations, as the balance on worn tires felt poor in practice. I got a reasonable get-away but lost a place to Room in turn 1. After the first 10 laps I knew it would be difficult to keep P4. I managed that until first pitstops, but shortly afterwards Morand, who was much quicker, got past.
Before the final stops I had a nice battle with Tali, but due to pitting one lap later, he emerged ahead. At this point I decided to save the brakes and remain outside the Mikkonen-Tali battle to be able to finish. This turned out to work as planned, as both Tali and Morand lost brake power in the closing stages, allowing me to pass both on the final lap.
P5 is a good result at the end of the day, although a podium was possible with a more stable race setup. Hopefully I can keep the momentum for Silverstone which has traditionally been a difficult circuit for me."
Giuseppe Marconi (15th): "Not much to say. I had little testing time, even if I like the track. In Q1, I was 0.4s slower than my personal best time. I started my race well as usual and for the first stint I was on my pace and in the drivers train. I only had a mistake in the first pitstop when I got a drive-through penalty (for speeding). After that, I wasn't able to push as I wanted to gain time on Eros (Masciulli) in front of me. After my second pitstop I was lapped by the leaders so I lost a lot of time and my race ended there. See you at Silverstone, a track where I love driving."
In the World Series, Carlos Hernandez drove a good race after a somewhat difficult qualifying. Carlos' race included a breathtaking wheel-to-wheel battle with Brackhahn and Jans, before seeing the checkered flag in 14th position.
In the World Trophy, while driving a solid race, Sami Pesari had to retire after being the unfortunate victim of an incident involving Novo and Filosa. After returning to the pits with a damaged car and a puncture, Sami tried to rejoin the race but had to abandon as the car was too damaged to continue.
Faster Than Speed now heads to the legendary Silverstone circuit, home of the British GP, sixth round of the FSR season. At Silverstone, Patrick De Wit scored WC podiums for FTS in 2007 and 2009, while the team also savoured victory in lower divisions. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@FTS_Racing) and Google+ for the latest news and live coverage from Great Britain!
Faster Than Speed
Press Release
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