Canada: Patrick 7th at Montreal despite smashing the 'Wall of Champions' metres...

[Christian Smirnoff]

After scoring Pole Position and podium at Monte Carlo, Patrick De Wit took another solid point-scoring result at Montreal as he finished in 7th place. He battled hard for 6th until the last corner, when an unsucessful passing attempt made him smash the famous 'Wall of Champions' metres before the finish line.

Giuseppe Marconi was 9th in the World Series race despite engine issues caused by car damage.

In the World Championship, Patrick De Wit set the 6th fastest time in the Q1 session, again securing a spot in the top-ten Pole shootout. Team mate Giuseppe Marconi qualified 19th. In the Q2 session, Patrick was unable to repeat his Monaco performance and secured 8th on the grid with a lap he wasn't satisfied with.

Both drivers made solid starts, with both Patrick and Giuseppe gaining two positions each. At the end of the opening lap, Giuseppe overtook Atze Kerkhof with a move into the last chicane. However, Kerkhof tried to retake the position by braking very late into Turn 1, but ran into Giuseppe, spinning his car around. Unfortunately, with his FTS-P11 across the track, he was collected by Disley, who had no time to react and hit Giuseppe, ending his race.

Struggling with lack of top speed and a small slide out of the final chicane, Patrick lost a couple of positions but remained in the top eight before his first of two scheduled pitstops. Pushing hard with consistent laptimes, Patrick climbed up to 5th before his second stop, which dropped him to 9th place. A few laps later, he overtook Saxen with a great move in the last chicane for 7th, in a tough battle which included some minor contact between them.

In the closing laps and while trying to save his engine, Patrick started to hunt Melim down. In the final lap, he was able to pass Melim into the hairpin for 6th, but lost out again in the long straight. Trying to keep 6th in the final corner, Patrick braked late but ran over the high kerbs, with his FTS-P11 taking off and hitting the famous 'Wall of Champions', only a few hundred metres before the checkered flag. While his front wing was gone, Patrick was still able to cross the line and finish in a valuable 7th place, right ahead of Saxen.

Patrick De Wit (7th): "Happy that I again managed to get into Q2, for the third time this year. Although my lap wasn't good, I was still 8th, a lot better than some past Qualifying performances this season.
The start was good, went from 8th to 6th, was trying to defend from other drivers but we lacked top speed to do so. My soft tyres didn't last a single stop while others' could, so we had to stop twice again. Had some great battles with Nilsson, Morris, Saxen and, in the end, Melim, who defended his position well, nice job. 7th place was good, 6th was probably the maximum for me today. See you in Silverstone!"

Giuseppe Marconi (DNF): "I started my race very well, gained two positions in the first lap with a good overtaking move on Atze (Kerkhof) on the last turn. At Turn 1 on Lap 2, my race ended after a contact with Atze which caused me to spin. Blair (Disley) couldn't avoid me and crashed into me, damaging my suspension. I tried to continue and return to the pits but I couldn't turn left anymore so I had to retire."

In the World Series, Giuseppe Marconi made a great start, overtaking Kanitz and Wezenberg for 10th before being a victim of an incident. Having to brake hard to avoid a colission with Werdmuller. Giuseppe's FTS-P11 was then hit from behind, heavily damaging his car. Apart from hurting Giuseppe's promising pace, the damage also caused engine issues, with the car losing several kph of top speed throughout the race and causing Giuseppe to nurse the car home in the closing laps with a smoking powerplant. Despite the issues, he still managed to see the checkered flag and take some solid points in 9th place.

In the World Trophy division, Heinz Vanderhoydonck retired due to an engine failure.

Faster Than Speed is now heading to Silverstone for the British GP. At the home of British motorsport, FTS was victorious with Florian Pechon in the 2008 WS Advanced race, while Patrick De Wit took World Championship podiums at the venue in both 2007 and 2009. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and live coverage from Great Britain!

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[Atze Kerkhof]

Both drivers made solid starts, with both Patrick and Giuseppe gaining two positions each. At the end of the opening lap, Giuseppe overtook Atze Kerkhof with a move into the last chicane. However, Kerkhof tried to retake the position by braking very late into Turn 1, but ran into Giuseppe, spinning his car around. Unfortunately, with his FTS-P11 across the track, he was collected by Disley, who had no time to react and hit Giuseppe, ending his race.

Feel like I need to respond to this.. I'm sure it wasn't intentional to write it like this, but have you checked the replay? In my own defence, I was perfectly next to him while overtaking, not braking late at all, hitting the apex on the inside and he hit me causing himself to spin.

And considering he passed me on the penultimate straight where I was forced to brake under yellow flag with wings flying around in front of us I seriously believe that this writing is not based on any facts and seriously hurting my reputation. I think you're better off in this message by just stating Marconi's own comment, which makes more sense.

 

[Christian Smirnoff]

Feel like I need to respond to this.. I'm sure it wasn't intentional to write it like this, but have you checked the replay? In my own defence, I was perfectly next to him while overtaking, not braking late at all, hitting the apex on the inside and he hit me causing himself to spin.

And considering he passed me on the penultimate straight where I was forced to brake under yellow flag with wings flying around in front of us I seriously believe that this writing is not based on any facts and seriously hurting my reputation. I think you're better off in this message by just stating Marconi's own comment, which makes more sense.

Atze, these are just press race review articles, not post-race discussion, a protest, incident report or something like that. I won't claim they are objective since they obviously represent the team's view on the weekend's events, rather than a neutral one, but the writing does never try to hurt anybody's reputation.

I did check the replay since I was the one who made the call not to submit a report about this incident. While I don't fully agree with your view, since you were still behind at the corner apex, it is also true Giuseppe had some extra room available and that's why I decided to deem it as a racing incident and not report it. Of course all that reasoning cannot be included in a race review, so it is only mentioned that your car ran into Giuseppe's, without assigning responsibilities or blaming anyone.