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Tamworth’s
Martin Plowman experienced his most challenging F3 Euro Series race weekend yet
on the French
street circuit of Pau, on 31 May & 1 June. Evidence of the
rookie’s brilliance shone through in a storming drive from 25th to
eighth in round five but his point-scoring chances were dashed when the
Staffordshire star was taken out of the race, while a gearbox problem ruined his
round six aspirations.
Plowman
impressed from the first free practice session on Friday in his Volkswagen
powered RC Motorsport car. Fifth fastest ranked him as the second-quickest
rookie less than three tenths adrift from the fastest runner, Christian Vietoris
(GER), with one second covering the top 20 cars. After running an encouraging
10th fastest in the second session, Plowman was eager to carry his
form into qualifying and the race.
With wet
qualifying, Plowman ran less than five tenths off the pace setters but the
session was red-flagged. By the time it resumed his tyres were cold resulting in
an excursion at Casino that called his session short, consequently dropping him
down the order to 25th.
Undeterred
and confident of his set-up, the 20-year-old made a lightening start from the
13th row for round five, blasting around the outside of the first
corner to take six places and finish lap one 19th. Plowman’s quick
reaction to a second-lap incident saw him take a further six places at Pont
Oscar to clinch 13th. Continuing to scythe through the pack on the
notorious narrow and twisty French
street circuit, Plowman was up to 10th
when an incident resulted in a safety car period.
At the
restart Plowman was on the tail of Sam Bird (GB) and when the fellow Brit went
wide going into the first corner, Plowman seized the opportunity to close and
take ninth the following lap.
Unbelievably
up to eighth by lap 17, Plowman put a wheel slightly wide at Pont Oscar and Erik
Janis (CZE) tried to take advantage on the exit. Despite falling back Janis
stayed on the outside approaching Casino and clipped Plowman’s right rear tyre
at 115mph, catapulting him off the track and into the barrier at 110mph. A
further incident was triggered when Bird helplessly collected Janis, forcing all
three cars to retire.
The
resulting safety car period and further incidents saw just 13 cars officially
finish. Had Plowman not been taken out of the race, the Brit was on track to
clinch his first F3 Euro Series pole position for round six on Sunday.
Regardless, his storming drive from 25th to eighth certainly caught
the attention of the field.
With
substantial damage to the front and rear wings, both side-pods, suspension and
the floor tray, the RC Motorsport/Volkswagen team worked late into the night and
throughout Sunday to rebuild the car.
As round
six loomed late on Sunday afternoon, the rain poured down. A wet race was
declared and the 30-strong grid lined up to start behind the safety car, but
Plowman began to experience gearbox problems on the formation lap.
The
safety car went in on lap four leaving the field to roar away, but the gearbox
problem meant Plowman had little chance of defending his 14th place.
Yanking through the gears and compensating on the throttle in torrential rain,
Plowman lost valuable time and began to gradually drop down the field. With less
than ten minutes remaining and his situation unchanged, Plowman was forced to
retire to the pits on lap 21.
Plowman
commented: “A huge thanks must go to my team for completely rebuilding my car.
RC Motorsport did an amazing job and without them I wouldn’t have had a chance
of making it out for Sunday’s race. Although we’ve had everything thrown at us
this weekend, we leave with a lot of positives. We have come a long way since
the last round, and leaving Mugello I wouldn’t have dreamt of running in the top
five and then top ten in practice here at Pau.
“Saturday’s
race was fantastic and although it was cut short I can take a lot of confidence
from taking 11 places on merit. We can build on this leap of progress and look
forward to the next rounds at Nürnberg.”
For full
results visit www.f3euroseries.com
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