Monaco weekend saw Huis take his third win of season and strengthen the team's lead in the championships standings.
World Series did not begin in the best possible way, as traffic compromised the early runs somewhat, forcing championship leader Peter Duivelaar and Cyril Werdmuller out of the top 10, while Jack Keithley would start third after a decent lap.
In the hectic opening lap Keithley was able to keep third, whilst Duivelaar and Werdmuller lost a couple of places. Fred Gosling meanwhile had a good start to his race, keeping in the top 10 with a controversial 2 stop strategy. As the race carried on, Duivelaar was slowly but surely advancing positions with the help of different pit stop timings. Keithley eventually kept his place until the chequered flag, which pushed the Briton to lead in the world championship standings, as Duivelaar was unable to finish higher than 8th. A consistent race saw Gosling finish 9th, whilst Werdmuller had to retire after a late incident.
In the World Championship Bono Huis stormed into his first pole position of the season, taking pole position ahead of Rasmus Tali with a tenth margin. Keithley, replacing Jaakko Mikkonen, drove a solid qualifying to start 10th, despite a mistake on the Q2 lap. At the front Huis was able to control his race even with Morgan Morand following on close distance. Keithley meanwhile had advanced up to 6th place after the opening lap, putting the Briton in a good position despite damage to his car.
At the first pit stops, Morand damaged his car, handing over a safe lead to Huis. Despite nearly the whole field hitting the barriers during the race, Huis was able to drive the rest of the race without errors, finishing in a victory with a healthy 52 second margin, making it the third in a row at Monaco for the young Dutchman. Keithley, however, delivered the surprise of the race by finishing fourth, after having defended against Georgo Baldi for nearly the entire race.
The strong result strengthened both Huis' and Precision's lead in the constructors' championship. The team will move on to another street track, Montreal, in two weeks time.
Bono Huis commented:
"Fantastic to win again in Monaco. My Q1 was a mess but fortunately I managed a lap in the end. Q2 went a lot better, I guess I was the only one with a clean lap so I got the most important pole position of the season. I was under a lot of pressure in the first stint but fortunately Morgan crashed. From then on I took it easy and I brought the car home. Great result for us."
Jack Keithley commented:
"Q1 - Made it into Q2 by 1 10/000 th...close.
Q2 - Failed at Anthony Nogues so P10.
Race - Got away decently and just tried to maintain position, but as usual it got tight into Sainte Devote and someone ahead locked up and we touched wheels a bit, but I got a good exit and passed Raino on the outside around Massanet then got Jim at Mirabeau and a wingless Stoffel in the Tunnel to cross the line 6th at the end of the lap.
Took a look at the HUD and it confirmed the suspension damage which I had felt through the wheel, but I had good track position and only had to do 77 laps with no errors I mean how hard can it be?
Once i had got a bit more used to the feel of the car i managed to build a gap to the cars behind and with 2 cars ahead crashing out of contention I was holding down 4th spot mid race, but it was getting tougher to keep the pace up and I lost 4th briefly to Dian as he overtook me out of the tunnel only to hand the spot back a few laps later as he hit problems.
I then had Gergo on my tail for the remainder of the race, but i didnt feel under any great pressure as if you place your car correctly it's almost impossible to pass, so it came down to a battle of the pitcrews on lap 56. Gergo pitted first so I pushed as hard as I dared for the 2 laps before my scheduled stop and the guys turned me around with their best stop of the day and 4th position was still mine and I held onto it for the rest of the race.
Really delighted with the result which is my best ever in WC, the team did a great job with the car and strategy, and I'm just so happy with the outcome."
Fred Gosling commented:
"I'm very satisfied to have scored a solid result and to continue my steady rate of improvement since returning to FSR. To come back to racing after over a year of not driving has been challenging, especially with very limited time for testing. Despite this, I have been enjoying my racing a lot and enjoying working with my team mates.
The race itself started well, with a surprisingly good top ten qualifying position. Expecting to be further back, I had decided to adopt a two-stop strategy. I managed to gain two places at the start but thereafter the race was an uphill struggle. I wasn't able to compete against the much faster three-stoppers and in the end, I was grateful to finish inside the top ten. My strategy was wrong but it was fun to try something different and fun is what this comeback has always been about."
Team manager Ondrej Kuncman commented:
"Another solid weekend. You never really know what to expect from Monaco but things turned out ok in both WS and WC. Jack drove safely in WS and got a podium, Peter brought the car home too and scored some important points, having other commitments in previous week. WS is very close in front at the moment, but with more normal races upcoming I am certain we will extend our lead again. In WC Bono drove flawlessly as usually and won Monaco in 3 consecutive seasons. Jack had damage from the first lap and an engine issue as we were running lower radiator than on Saturday. He drove excellently in his first WC race for Precision Motorsports and helped us increase our constructors lead. We will now enjoy a short break and prepare for Canada, where we got our first WC double win in 2009."
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
World Series did not begin in the best possible way, as traffic compromised the early runs somewhat, forcing championship leader Peter Duivelaar and Cyril Werdmuller out of the top 10, while Jack Keithley would start third after a decent lap.
In the hectic opening lap Keithley was able to keep third, whilst Duivelaar and Werdmuller lost a couple of places. Fred Gosling meanwhile had a good start to his race, keeping in the top 10 with a controversial 2 stop strategy. As the race carried on, Duivelaar was slowly but surely advancing positions with the help of different pit stop timings. Keithley eventually kept his place until the chequered flag, which pushed the Briton to lead in the world championship standings, as Duivelaar was unable to finish higher than 8th. A consistent race saw Gosling finish 9th, whilst Werdmuller had to retire after a late incident.
In the World Championship Bono Huis stormed into his first pole position of the season, taking pole position ahead of Rasmus Tali with a tenth margin. Keithley, replacing Jaakko Mikkonen, drove a solid qualifying to start 10th, despite a mistake on the Q2 lap. At the front Huis was able to control his race even with Morgan Morand following on close distance. Keithley meanwhile had advanced up to 6th place after the opening lap, putting the Briton in a good position despite damage to his car.
At the first pit stops, Morand damaged his car, handing over a safe lead to Huis. Despite nearly the whole field hitting the barriers during the race, Huis was able to drive the rest of the race without errors, finishing in a victory with a healthy 52 second margin, making it the third in a row at Monaco for the young Dutchman. Keithley, however, delivered the surprise of the race by finishing fourth, after having defended against Georgo Baldi for nearly the entire race.
The strong result strengthened both Huis' and Precision's lead in the constructors' championship. The team will move on to another street track, Montreal, in two weeks time.
Bono Huis commented:
"Fantastic to win again in Monaco. My Q1 was a mess but fortunately I managed a lap in the end. Q2 went a lot better, I guess I was the only one with a clean lap so I got the most important pole position of the season. I was under a lot of pressure in the first stint but fortunately Morgan crashed. From then on I took it easy and I brought the car home. Great result for us."
Jack Keithley commented:
"Q1 - Made it into Q2 by 1 10/000 th...close.
Q2 - Failed at Anthony Nogues so P10.
Race - Got away decently and just tried to maintain position, but as usual it got tight into Sainte Devote and someone ahead locked up and we touched wheels a bit, but I got a good exit and passed Raino on the outside around Massanet then got Jim at Mirabeau and a wingless Stoffel in the Tunnel to cross the line 6th at the end of the lap.
Took a look at the HUD and it confirmed the suspension damage which I had felt through the wheel, but I had good track position and only had to do 77 laps with no errors I mean how hard can it be?
Once i had got a bit more used to the feel of the car i managed to build a gap to the cars behind and with 2 cars ahead crashing out of contention I was holding down 4th spot mid race, but it was getting tougher to keep the pace up and I lost 4th briefly to Dian as he overtook me out of the tunnel only to hand the spot back a few laps later as he hit problems.
I then had Gergo on my tail for the remainder of the race, but i didnt feel under any great pressure as if you place your car correctly it's almost impossible to pass, so it came down to a battle of the pitcrews on lap 56. Gergo pitted first so I pushed as hard as I dared for the 2 laps before my scheduled stop and the guys turned me around with their best stop of the day and 4th position was still mine and I held onto it for the rest of the race.
Really delighted with the result which is my best ever in WC, the team did a great job with the car and strategy, and I'm just so happy with the outcome."
Fred Gosling commented:
"I'm very satisfied to have scored a solid result and to continue my steady rate of improvement since returning to FSR. To come back to racing after over a year of not driving has been challenging, especially with very limited time for testing. Despite this, I have been enjoying my racing a lot and enjoying working with my team mates.
The race itself started well, with a surprisingly good top ten qualifying position. Expecting to be further back, I had decided to adopt a two-stop strategy. I managed to gain two places at the start but thereafter the race was an uphill struggle. I wasn't able to compete against the much faster three-stoppers and in the end, I was grateful to finish inside the top ten. My strategy was wrong but it was fun to try something different and fun is what this comeback has always been about."
Team manager Ondrej Kuncman commented:
"Another solid weekend. You never really know what to expect from Monaco but things turned out ok in both WS and WC. Jack drove safely in WS and got a podium, Peter brought the car home too and scored some important points, having other commitments in previous week. WS is very close in front at the moment, but with more normal races upcoming I am certain we will extend our lead again. In WC Bono drove flawlessly as usually and won Monaco in 3 consecutive seasons. Jack had damage from the first lap and an engine issue as we were running lower radiator than on Saturday. He drove excellently in his first WC race for Precision Motorsports and helped us increase our constructors lead. We will now enjoy a short break and prepare for Canada, where we got our first WC double win in 2009."
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
