Russia, 3rd July 2014 - From the historic and fabled venues of Spa-Francorchamps and the Norisring, Sean Gelael and his FIA Formula 3 European Championship rivals are heading east for the next races at the new Moscow Raceway circuit on 11th-13th July.
The event is the first international F3 race ever to be held in Russia, and the circuit is one that was only constructed in the past few years, and which held its first race in 2012.
So Gelael and the Jagonya Ayam with Carlin team will be getting their first taste of this modern facility, which despite its name is not actually in Moscow – it is 120 kilometres to the west of the capital city.
Even so, when the cars hit the track for free practice on Friday, the teams and drivers will have a pretty good idea of the layout of the track and the engineering challenges it will present.
The Carlin team has already been to Moscow Raceway with its World Series by Renault team – although these cars are different to Sean’s Dallara-Volkswagen racer, the information gained is still useful.
Furthermore, some of Gelael’s team-mates at Carlin have already raced there in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup.
“What we do normally for a race weekend will not be any different for Moscow Raceway,” said Sean’s engineer Jose Lopez Garcia. “We already have a solid baseline for the car set-up so we will start with that and see how it is.
“We have a lot of videos of the track from other series, including from our World Series by Renault cars. Other drivers from the team have been to the track so they will be able to give some tips, and we will work on the simulator at the factory, making sure that we do a lot of laps.”
Far from being like a computer game, the simulator is an advanced tool that truly helps the driver learn the circuit in a ‘virtual’ Formula 3 car, although it can never truly replicate the track conditions and weather that will be experienced in real life.
“Sometimes we try different gear ratios,” adds Garcia, “but sometimes the guys are just having fun! First we do the work, and then they try to beat each other! But when this is over, they will have a good basis for the track, from videos, from the team, from the simulator and from advice from drivers. Then they will find out in real life whether it all works or not.”
With his best FIA F3 European Championship finish to date of sixth under his belt from last time out at the Norisring, Sean will definitely be arriving at Moscow Raceway with confidence high. And the preparation of the Jagonya Ayam with Carlin team should justify that.
