Joel did his best to make up for a poor qualifying outcome as he lifted himself from 17th to ninth in the second FIA F3 European Championship race at the Nürburgring.
Unlike earlier in the weekend, rain was never a factor in Race 2, which ran on a dry track for the duration of its 35 minutes.
Joel faced an uphill fight from 17th on the grid, but made swift progress on the opening lap alone – completing it in 12th place.
He subsequently passed Max Defourney, Guan Yu Zhou and Nikita Mazepin on the next few tours, snatching ninth just one fourth into the race.
As he approached the top eight, however, the charge slowly faded on worn tyres, with Joel staying ninth until the fall of the chequered flag. The effort was rewarded with two potentially crucial championship points.
Winning the race was Britain’s Jake Hughes, who scored his first F3 win in the process.
Next session: Race 3, 16.55 local time (GMT+02:00).
Comment, Joel:
“We set the car up aggressively to ensure we were fast at the beginning, which is the best opportunity to make up positions. It worked pretty well and I got through several cars and into ninth, but then the tyres inevitably start overheating and there’s not much you can do. From where we started, I think ninth was the maximum we could realistically have hoped for in this race.”
RESULTS – Race 2
