By: Prema Powerteam
October 4 2016
It has been a special weekend for Prema and for the whole Rosin family. A few hours after mathematically clinching the GP2 Series Team Championship at Sepang, Lance Stroll was crowned FIA F.3 European Champion at the end of race 2 at Imola, and Prema also captured the team honours early. For Prema it’s the sixth straight title in the developmental category both in the team and driver competitions. Stroll delivered an amazing performance in Italy with three poles and two wins that brought his grand total to 11 this season.
In the first race held at the Italian venue, Stroll took the lead from the pole but was passed by Kari with just a few laps to go. The Canadian didn’t want to take any risk in his run for the championship and settled for an extremely valuable second place. In the two other races, he held the point for the whole time with great authority, showcasing the same dominant for that made him a deserving Champion.
Finishing close to a podium finish, Nick Cassidy had ended up fourth in race 1 but was pushed back to 10th place by a track limits penalty. He then took P7 and P8 in the last two heats. Ralf Aron also captured a triple top-10 finish with two fourth places in race 2 and 3 and a seventh place in race 1. On the other hand, Maximilian Gunther had a weekend to forget, finishing out of the points three times due to contacts and penalties.
# 1 - Lance Stroll
"Being able to call myself the new FIA Formula 3 European Champion is a fantastic feeling, I can’t find any words to describe it. This
season hasn’t been easy, because the opposition was really strong. I always had to stay focussed and work for this success together with my team. Now, I am really happy. In race 1 I don’t know how Kari got past at the re-start. He went by and I did not fight back to avoid taking too many risks and losing valuable points. In race 2 I was able to hold on to first place, which was very important for me. After that, I managed to pull a gap, but I lost my margin every time due to the three safety car interventions. On the final laps, I didn’t want to take too many risks anymore, because I didn’t want to jeopardize my early title win. Then in race 3 everything went well from start to finish. It was a perfect ending for an unforgettable weekend”.
# 2 - Nick Cassidy
“With fourth place in race 1 I got the maximum I could considering that I lost speed in the closing stages. I made a good start and a nice pass on Russell, and it’s been positive to end up in front of my contenders for third place in standings. Unfortunately, a penalty assessed to me after the race pushed me back to 10th place. In race 2 and 3 I fought hard and scored more points for the championship. I also want to congratulate Lance on winning the title”.
# 16 - Ralf Aron
“In race 1 my start has been really good, I passed a couple of cars in lap 1, then we got the first safety-car and I didn’t re-start well, losing some spots. I faced some battles, made some mistakes, but I’m really happy for my seventh place. I’m also really pleased for my double fourth place in race 2 and 3. Congrats to Lance on clinching the title so early”.
# 17 - Maximilian Gunther
“I did a great start and I faced a couple of good battles but I ended up 12th in race 1, out of the points. The car wasn’t perfect and we have to look at the data to sort it out. In race 2, after being disqualified I started from the back of the pack. I tried to recover, but I ended up off-track. In race 3 I recovered hard but I was still out of the points. I’m looking forward to Hockenheim where I will try to do my best and I’m happy I have been in contention for the title until Imola against a strong rival like Lance”.
Canadians In BOLD