Rounds 9&10 - Magny Cours
As the 2009 European F3 Open Championships reconvened at Magny Cours on the weekend of the 18th to 20th September, Team West-Tec was ready to put on a good show, feeling that its cars would be very competitive.
Free practice showed that as all three drivers set excellent times on used tyres, when most of our competitors were using up new tyres.
However qualifying was a disaster for Thor-Christian Ebbesvik, the dominant Donington racewinner, though as he made an error and spun into the gravel on just his first lap - consigning him to the very back of the grid!
Team honour was upheld superbly by Callum Macleod who took an emphatic Copa Class pole with a sensational fifth place overall, after coming close to topping free practice overall. Kristjan Einar was also competitive, qualifying sixth in Copa, in a fine 13th overall.
For race one, Callum made a good start to jump up to fourth which soon became third as the race settled down. Ebbesvik was storming through the field, with Einar slotted in behind him after being passed.
Thor-Christian sliced through the midfield as he made his way up to 12th position, before an overtaking manoeuvre on debutant Doru Sechelariu went wrong as the young Romanian shut the door as TCE tried to make an optimistic pass at the final corner. Unfortunately, TCE's front wing was broken off the car and both drivers also received a drive through penalty for the collision, dropping them to the rear of the field. Deciding to stick with the broken wing, as changing would take too long, Thor-Christian again moved up the field to finish in an impressive ninth, which became eighth when Kevin Ceccon was penalised.
Meanwhile Callum had been running in a strong third place, closing up on Adrian Campos jr in front who had sustained minor damage to his car. Despite Callum having no real desire to try to attack Campos on the track, the young Spaniard defended unnecessarily which allowed Ceccon to close up and try a very optimistic pass on Callum - which only resulted in Callum retiring with broken suspension and Ceccon being penalised for this and also for jumping the start.
Kristjan Einar was doing a great job - having moved up into an impressive third place in the Copa class. Amazingly, at the very last corner, Bruno Palli made a lunge from suicidally far back and dumped both cars in the gravel, although Einar was eventually classified fourth in class with Palli excluded by the stewards.
So to Sunday's race two and Thor-Christian made another great start to leap up the order to sixth straightaway before improving to third place by lap six. Despite being the fastest of the leading cars, the front two were too far in front, although TCE managed to close in on them while leaving the fourth place driver a massive 12 seconds behind him as he claimed the final place on the podium.
Callum had made another good start to move up but was the innocent victim at the Adelaide hairpin on lap one as another car hit him hard in the rear and dumped him unceremoniously in the gravel, and out of this race too.
Kristjan Einar was another victim at the hairpin on lap one, having to pit to change his rear wing which cost him any chance of the podium finish his driving merited, although he did move up to sixth in Copa.
Thor-Christian Ebbesvik: I made a schoolboy error in qualifying and we paid for it in the races. Getting back to the podium was a good result though and I am now focussing my thoughts towards Monza.
Callum Macleod: A weekend that started so well ended very disappointingly. We clearly have a superb car so we will be looking to get back to winning ways in Monza.
Kristjan Einar: I was furious in race one as I had done all of the hard work to get to the podium. We had the pace for two podiums but I guess it wasn't to be.
John Miller, Co-Team Principal: Christian made a blooper in qualifying, but we know that we win together and we lose together. He drove well to get back to eighth and third in the two races which was as good as we could have hoped for after qualifying.
Callum was very unfortunate as he was the fastest Copa car by miles, but now somehow finds himself second in that Championship. His pace is clear as he has over three times the number of points in the overall standings than his Copa class rival but trails in Copa by two points! He will need to get good results in Monza to get his challenge back on track.
Kristjan also should have had a podium but was robbed by a silly move for other driver was excluded - although that didn't give Kristjan his podium position back!
We had the pace for pole position and victory in both classes but managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Even though we haven't tested at Monza, I am sure we will be able to get good results.
European F3 Open resumes at Monza on 2-4 October before returning to Jerez and then Barcelona in Spain to finish the season.
As the 2009 European F3 Open Championships reconvened at Magny Cours on the weekend of the 18th to 20th September, Team West-Tec was ready to put on a good show, feeling that its cars would be very competitive.
Free practice showed that as all three drivers set excellent times on used tyres, when most of our competitors were using up new tyres.
However qualifying was a disaster for Thor-Christian Ebbesvik, the dominant Donington racewinner, though as he made an error and spun into the gravel on just his first lap - consigning him to the very back of the grid!
Team honour was upheld superbly by Callum Macleod who took an emphatic Copa Class pole with a sensational fifth place overall, after coming close to topping free practice overall. Kristjan Einar was also competitive, qualifying sixth in Copa, in a fine 13th overall.
For race one, Callum made a good start to jump up to fourth which soon became third as the race settled down. Ebbesvik was storming through the field, with Einar slotted in behind him after being passed.
Thor-Christian sliced through the midfield as he made his way up to 12th position, before an overtaking manoeuvre on debutant Doru Sechelariu went wrong as the young Romanian shut the door as TCE tried to make an optimistic pass at the final corner. Unfortunately, TCE's front wing was broken off the car and both drivers also received a drive through penalty for the collision, dropping them to the rear of the field. Deciding to stick with the broken wing, as changing would take too long, Thor-Christian again moved up the field to finish in an impressive ninth, which became eighth when Kevin Ceccon was penalised.
Meanwhile Callum had been running in a strong third place, closing up on Adrian Campos jr in front who had sustained minor damage to his car. Despite Callum having no real desire to try to attack Campos on the track, the young Spaniard defended unnecessarily which allowed Ceccon to close up and try a very optimistic pass on Callum - which only resulted in Callum retiring with broken suspension and Ceccon being penalised for this and also for jumping the start.
Kristjan Einar was doing a great job - having moved up into an impressive third place in the Copa class. Amazingly, at the very last corner, Bruno Palli made a lunge from suicidally far back and dumped both cars in the gravel, although Einar was eventually classified fourth in class with Palli excluded by the stewards.
So to Sunday's race two and Thor-Christian made another great start to leap up the order to sixth straightaway before improving to third place by lap six. Despite being the fastest of the leading cars, the front two were too far in front, although TCE managed to close in on them while leaving the fourth place driver a massive 12 seconds behind him as he claimed the final place on the podium.
Callum had made another good start to move up but was the innocent victim at the Adelaide hairpin on lap one as another car hit him hard in the rear and dumped him unceremoniously in the gravel, and out of this race too.
Kristjan Einar was another victim at the hairpin on lap one, having to pit to change his rear wing which cost him any chance of the podium finish his driving merited, although he did move up to sixth in Copa.
Thor-Christian Ebbesvik: I made a schoolboy error in qualifying and we paid for it in the races. Getting back to the podium was a good result though and I am now focussing my thoughts towards Monza.
Callum Macleod: A weekend that started so well ended very disappointingly. We clearly have a superb car so we will be looking to get back to winning ways in Monza.
Kristjan Einar: I was furious in race one as I had done all of the hard work to get to the podium. We had the pace for two podiums but I guess it wasn't to be.
John Miller, Co-Team Principal: Christian made a blooper in qualifying, but we know that we win together and we lose together. He drove well to get back to eighth and third in the two races which was as good as we could have hoped for after qualifying.
Callum was very unfortunate as he was the fastest Copa car by miles, but now somehow finds himself second in that Championship. His pace is clear as he has over three times the number of points in the overall standings than his Copa class rival but trails in Copa by two points! He will need to get good results in Monza to get his challenge back on track.
Kristjan also should have had a podium but was robbed by a silly move for other driver was excluded - although that didn't give Kristjan his podium position back!
We had the pace for pole position and victory in both classes but managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Even though we haven't tested at Monza, I am sure we will be able to get good results.
European F3 Open resumes at Monza on 2-4 October before returning to Jerez and then Barcelona in Spain to finish the season.
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