News
Spa Race 2: P3 for Luca

08/27/2017

Spa Race 2: P3 for Luca

A super-successful Spa weekend has moved Russian Time to within a point of the F2 Teams’ Championship lead. After Artem Markelov finished second on the road in Saturday’s feature race, with Luca Ghiotto fourth, winner Charles Leclerc and third place man Oliver Rowland were both excluded after post-race scrutineering, leaving the team with a 1-2 result, Artem ahead of Luca!

In reverse grid Sprint race, Luca followed up with another podium, making up four positions after starting seventh and finishing just behind race winner Sergio Sette Camara and Dutchman Nyck De Vries. Artem was running right behind Luca when he retired on lap 13 with an exhaust problem. Luca’s result moves him to fourth place, behind Artem, in the Drivers’ championship.  

Luca Ghiotto: «A second podium in two days feels good but I could possibly have done even better if it hadn’t been for the late-race Safety Car. I saw from yesterday that it could be tricky making the tyres last well and towards the end I was about half a second quicker than the guys ahead and hoping to attack at the end, but you can’t control things like that… It’s my 14th points-scoring result in 16 starts and with three weekends still to go, my target is second in the championship. It’s close between Rowland, Artem and I.»

Artem Markelov: «It was a pity about the exhaust issue because I think I could have finished on the podium again. I got the damage early in the race in some contact when I overtook Fuoco, but I was right behind De Vries and Luca and planning to attack when I had a big loss of power and had to stop. Rowland only scored one point today though, so I am still in the second place fight!»

Svetlana Strelnikova (Team principal): «After a difficult Friday the drivers have once again shown our strength in both races. The technical infringements gave us a 1-2 in the Feature race and another strong performance today rewarded Luca – who now looks forward to his home race at Monza. Artem was unfortunate today but 55 points over the weekend puts us just a single point behind DAMS in the battle for team honours. We will give it everything!”




Back to news