SMP Racing driver Robert Shwartzman secured pole position in qualifying the eighth FIA Formula 3 championship’s round, which takes place on September 27-29 at Sochi Autodrom.
During the thirty-minute qualifying round, Robert constantly improved his lap time and in the end set the best result among 29 drivers with a lap of 1: 52.583s, ahead of his Prema Racing teammates Jehan Daruvala and Marcus Armstrong.Currently, Shwartzman keeps the lead in the overall standings. He scored four points for pole position today and thereby increased his lead over Jehan Daruvala to 37 points.
“The qualifying went well, although me and teammates had very close results,” SMP Racing driver Robert Shwartzman said. “The main thing is that we have taken a step forward compared to the practice session. In the morning I was not happy with the balance of the car, and the team did its best to fix it during the break. In the qualifying round, the car behaved well and I could steadily improve my own result. My task while driving on the second set of tyres was to find a convenient moment and set a good lap, and we achieved it. I made a little mistake in the penultimate chicane, flew up on the curb and lost the car a little. I tried to drive a lap pushing the limits, but lost a little in the third sector, but in any case I am very pleased with the result. The whole team did a great job, the main focus now is the Saturday race. Tomorrow rain is predicted, let's see what happens. My task is to start well, try to break away and win or score valuable points for the championship.”
Race 1 of FIA Formula 3 starts at Sochi Autodrom on Saturday at 10:15 Moscow time.
