Round 6 of FSR witnessed Precision victories both in World Series and World Championship
World Series qualifying was once again the Achilles heel of the weekend, as Jack Keithley was the only Precision driver who managed to qualify into top 10, starting from a decent third place. After pole-sitter Stephane Rouault ran wide at the first corner, Keithley maximized his start to take the race lead.
After the first couple of laps, Jeffrey Rietveld overtook Roault, making the race a two-man battle between Keithley and Rietveld. At the first pit stops, Rietveld was able to stay out on track longer, using his opportunity to take the net lead. Both drivers kept their positions for the second round of pit stops, where Rietveld was caught for speeding in the pits, resulting in a drive-through and handing the lead back to Keithley.
The second part of the race saw a battle develop between the two drivers, but Rietveld suffered a long 3rd pit stop due to another mistake, eventually making the victory relatively easy for Keithley. The victory of Keithley marks his first for Precision and first in the World Series. The Briton also secured his lead in the championship. The other Precision drivers had a difficult weekend, as championship 2nd placed Peter Duivelaar suffered a collision with Luka Oslakovic and Cyril Werdmuller retired after early damage.
In World Championship Bono Huis took his second pole in a row, setting the fastest Qualifying 2 time with nearly 4 tenths of margin. Jaakko Mikkonen's excellent 2nd place ensured a first front-row of season for Precision.
In the race, the team took an early command, with both Huis and Mikkonen pulling gap to the competitors behind. The race continued without much drama, until Mikkonen made an unfortunate mistake due to running out of fuel, which resulted in a pit lane drive-through penalty for the Finn. Huis meanwhile had enough margin to start saving his brakes and eventually the reigning champion finished in a clear victory, his fifth in a row. Mikkonen finished 4th after losing a couple of places due to his drive-through, but still scoring strong points for the team.
The result increased Huis' and Precision Motorsports' championship lead dramatically, since the main competitor Morgan Morand failed to score points in this round. The next race will take place at the legendary Silverstone circuit, in one week's time.
Bono Huis commented:
"Perfect race for us, the strategy was awesome and we increased the lead in the championship. Thanks to my team for the great setup work, the car was a dream to drive. See you next race!"
Jaakko Mikkonen commented:
"2nd place in Q2 was nice. Didn't really expect it but it's very good position for the race. Start and everything went well till I noticed my fuel consumption wasn't matching my strategy. I couldn't calculate what wasn't right while racing so, on third stint I had little bit too few fuel, which means II was ranning out of it on back straight. This took little concentration away and I didn't brake properly for pit lane and approached too fast. That cost me badly and got drive through penalty. I pitted couple laps later and exited pits on 5th place. I pushed hard to catch Room front of me. It wasn't enough but Morand losing brakes gave me one position just two laps to go."
Jack Keithley commented:
"Wow, finally got that elusive first win in FSR and man it felt good.
Qualifying was solid ending up in P3, but I got a good start and got into the lead very quickly and tried to build a gap as Roualt was kinda holding things up a bit behind. Rietveld got up into P2 soon after and we were pretty much on the same pace all through the race and it all came down to the pitstops in the end - mine were pretty poor all day in relative terms, but Jeffrey 's seemed worse and ultimately that gave me a decent lead for the last stint and we just paced it to the flag to get the win. Absolutely delighted to get my first win for Precision and also my first ever in FSR and it was just a great team effort so thanks to all the guys for this one."
Team owner Johannes Kunkel commented:
"A very good weekend for us overall, winning both the World Series and the World Championship races and extending the lead in all Championship standings. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve seems to be a very special track for us. It was here 3 years ago, in 2009, where we took our first double victory in the World Championship, and in all the following years we could continue this form and this year taking the 4th victory in a row, although a little misfortune kept us from making it yet another 1-2 finish here. I´m also very happy for Jack this weekend, he showed great consistency so far this season and finally he also got the last bit right to claim his first victory. I´m sure we will see more of these performances over the rest of the year."
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 qualifying was once again the Achilles heel of the weekend, as Jack Keithley was the only Precision driver who managed to qualify into top 10, starting from a decent third place. After pole-sitter Stephane Rouault ran wide at the first corner, Keithley maximized his start to take the race lead.
After the first couple of laps, Jeffrey Rietveld overtook Roault, making the race a two-man battle between Keithley and Rietveld. At the first pit stops, Rietveld was able to stay out on track longer, using his opportunity to take the net lead. Both drivers kept their positions for the second round of pit stops, where Rietveld was caught for speeding in the pits, resulting in a drive-through and handing the lead back to Keithley.
The second part of the race saw a battle develop between the two drivers, but Rietveld suffered a long 3rd pit stop due to another mistake, eventually making the victory relatively easy for Keithley. The victory of Keithley marks his first for Precision and first in the World Series. The Briton also secured his lead in the championship. The other Precision drivers had a difficult weekend, as championship 2nd placed Peter Duivelaar suffered a collision with Luka Oslakovic and Cyril Werdmuller retired after early damage.
In World Championship Bono Huis took his second pole in a row, setting the fastest Qualifying 2 time with nearly 4 tenths of margin. Jaakko Mikkonen's excellent 2nd place ensured a first front-row of season for Precision.
In the race, the team took an early command, with both Huis and Mikkonen pulling gap to the competitors behind. The race continued without much drama, until Mikkonen made an unfortunate mistake due to running out of fuel, which resulted in a pit lane drive-through penalty for the Finn. Huis meanwhile had enough margin to start saving his brakes and eventually the reigning champion finished in a clear victory, his fifth in a row. Mikkonen finished 4th after losing a couple of places due to his drive-through, but still scoring strong points for the team.
The result increased Huis' and Precision Motorsports' championship lead dramatically, since the main competitor Morgan Morand failed to score points in this round. The next race will take place at the legendary Silverstone circuit, in one week's time.
Bono Huis commented:
"Perfect race for us, the strategy was awesome and we increased the lead in the championship. Thanks to my team for the great setup work, the car was a dream to drive. See you next race!"
Jaakko Mikkonen commented:
"2nd place in Q2 was nice. Didn't really expect it but it's very good position for the race. Start and everything went well till I noticed my fuel consumption wasn't matching my strategy. I couldn't calculate what wasn't right while racing so, on third stint I had little bit too few fuel, which means II was ranning out of it on back straight. This took little concentration away and I didn't brake properly for pit lane and approached too fast. That cost me badly and got drive through penalty. I pitted couple laps later and exited pits on 5th place. I pushed hard to catch Room front of me. It wasn't enough but Morand losing brakes gave me one position just two laps to go."
Jack Keithley commented:
"Wow, finally got that elusive first win in FSR and man it felt good.
Qualifying was solid ending up in P3, but I got a good start and got into the lead very quickly and tried to build a gap as Roualt was kinda holding things up a bit behind. Rietveld got up into P2 soon after and we were pretty much on the same pace all through the race and it all came down to the pitstops in the end - mine were pretty poor all day in relative terms, but Jeffrey 's seemed worse and ultimately that gave me a decent lead for the last stint and we just paced it to the flag to get the win. Absolutely delighted to get my first win for Precision and also my first ever in FSR and it was just a great team effort so thanks to all the guys for this one."
Team owner Johannes Kunkel commented:
"A very good weekend for us overall, winning both the World Series and the World Championship races and extending the lead in all Championship standings. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve seems to be a very special track for us. It was here 3 years ago, in 2009, where we took our first double victory in the World Championship, and in all the following years we could continue this form and this year taking the 4th victory in a row, although a little misfortune kept us from making it yet another 1-2 finish here. I´m also very happy for Jack this weekend, he showed great consistency so far this season and finally he also got the last bit right to claim his first victory. I´m sure we will see more of these performances over the rest of the year."
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
