The opening weekend of the 2018 FIA Formula 2 championship ended up with a top-5 finish for PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing in Bahrain. Dutchman Nyck De Vries posted his second straight points finish after diving into the pits for a set of fresh option tires at half distance. De Vries recovered swiftly but couldn't quite go beyond P5 at the end of Al Sakhir's sprint race.
On the other hand, it was again a tough race for Sean Gelael. The Indonesian, who delivered an extremely positive race from the back yesterday, was slotted to start from the front row. Unfortunately, though, his car stalled on the grid and had to take-off from the pit-lane. Nonetheless, his lap times proved his pace was comparable to the front runners although ending up in 16th place.
Sights are now set on the next round of the series, scheduled at the end of April at Baku in Azerbaijan.
Sean Gelael
Car #3
Qualifying: P19 (1'43"016)
Race 1: P7
(Fastest Lap: 1'48"646)
Race 2: P16 (Fastest Lap: 1'47"998)
"It's been a really tough weekend for us. For what it's worth, we had a really good pace. I think we have to analyze what happened but I don't think I could have done more. It is what it is but heads up for Baku, we know our race pace is quick and we have the potential to do a good job. Hopefully, everything will go together there."
Nyck De Vries
Car #4
Qualifying: P4 (1'41"880)
Race 1: P6 (Fastest Lap: 1'48"573)
Race 2: P5 (Fastest Lap: 1'47"711)
"I think we were obliged to apply this strategy because we already used the prime tires for race 2 in qualy, so that put us at a little bit on a disadvantage. We knew it was going to be tight and tough. I think we should have extended our stint on primes a little bit longer but we couldn't because of degradation. We just didn't manage to make it on the options. Of course, I'm disappointed. After leading and doing a good job at the beginning, we couldn't turn it into a real result but it was a good day anyway. We did what we could and we maximized our points."
ACF
