Norisring, 26th June 2014 - There is no rest at the moment in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Immediately after the non-stop action at Spa-Francorchamps, Sean Gelael has hit the road from Belgium to Germany for this weekend’s round at the Norisring.
In some ways, it is from one extreme to the other: at 7 kilometres, Spa is the longest circuit on the calendar and winds its way around the natural contours of the Ardennes hills; Norisring, just 2.3 kilometres in length, is the shortest circuit on the schedule and is a barrier-lined street track in the historic city of Nuremberg.
But in other ways it has similarities. Spa is all about adapting your car set-up to be fast on the long straights, and so is the Norisring – it may have a lap time of less than 50 seconds for the young guns in their high-tech Formula 3 cars, but it features two long straights, which for the majority of the year are two sides of a dual-carriageway road! These are interrupted only by two hairpins and a fast S-bend.
Last year Sean produced some good performances at Norisring in his rookie season of European racing to take a best finish of 15th – it was the first street circuit he had driven in his career.
This time he returns to Southern Germany looking for much more in his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen. Gelael has already scored his first two points finishes in the FIA F3 European Championship, and the first came last month on the challenging French street track of Pau, where the barriers are just as close as they are at the Norisring.
One thing is for sure. The long straights of the Norisring that funnel into tight hairpins mean that the action will be fast and furious, with drivers braking from speeds of 250km/h in less than 100 metres. There will be just as much overtaking as there was at Spa, but the difference here is that you cannot afford to run wide – because if you do you are in the wall.
This means that there can often be a lot of retirements, and drivers can finish much higher than they qualify as long as they stay out of trouble. Last year, this gave Sean optimism of his first points finish. This year, with his extra experience, now that he is capable of qualifying among the points contenders this could give him an even better result.
“We need to carry forward the progress we have made recently at the Norisring,” said Sean. “I have already scored points in two different race weekends, but you will only do that at the Norisring if you stay out of trouble. It will be very challenging and I am looking forward to it.”
One thing is for sure: just like at Spa, the races at the Norisring are bound to be thrillers. (ms/arl)
