Pau, 12th May 2014 - Sean Gelael has made history by becoming the first Indonesian driver ever to score points in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship – the world’s toughest series for young up-and-coming drivers.
The 17-year-old did it on the most challenging circuit of all, the Pau street track in South-West France, by finishing in 10th place in the first race of the weekend.
On a circuit that is tough to overtake on, Gelael set up his result by qualifying a best-ever 11th. “There were two red flags because of accidents so it was hard to build up a rhythm,” he said, “but then in the different sectors I really improved a lot. That included the middle sector with the Foch chicane, where I thought I would crash on one lap – that was a scary moment, but I came back and did the time on the next lap!”
A great start put Sean up into ninth place, and although he got overtaken in a mid-race battle he did an excellent job to bring his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen home in 10th position.
“I got a good start and I was right up behind the guy in front, fighting for eighth,” he said. “That was holding me up, and also because I was following him closely the front tyres starting wearing out badly. On one lap I locked up at the last corner and the guy behind got a really good run. I could have closed the door but he braked really late and I thought, ‘I need that point!’ I feel so relieved to finally get that result!”
Gelael qualified almost as strongly for the other two races. In the second race, which was in wet conditions, he moved up to 12th place before he unfortunately crashed out.
In the third and final race he was running 12th again, but an incident on the first lap damaged his suspension. Although he held on in trying circumstances for eight laps and kept his position, he was forced to retire from the race.
“The second race was such a shame,” said Sean. “I was stuck behind Ed Jones in front, but then I just missed my braking point a little bit. I went on the white line, which was really slippery because of the rain, locked the tyres and went wide, and I could not avoid the barriers.
“In the last race I had a good start, but my team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi had a bad start and he was running side by side with Gustavo Menezes. They both went sideways and slowed up, and next up were Nicholas Latifi and me. Nicholas braked hard, and I had to avoid him and hit the barriers.
“I got very sideways but still continued. The pace was not that bad, I was still running 12th, but I had a slow puncture in the front-right tyre and a broken tie-rod at the back of the car. Without the puncture I could have nursed the car.”
Still, Gelael has proved a point by taking a landmark result in the first race, putting him in good spirits in the three-week gap before the next round at the Hungaroring, near Budapest, on 30th May-1st June.
“I am gutted about the other two races but we have made big strides this weekend with huge improvements,” he said. “There were many ‘if onlys’ this weekend but we can take the positives.”
The Jagonya Ayam with Carlin team scored another race win at Pau, with Tom Blomqvist making a brave move on the penultimate lap to win the wet second race. He added a third position and an 11th from his weekend.
Antonio Giovinazzi managed to score points in all three races in his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin car, with a fourth, a seventh and a 10th. (ms/arl)
