Racer Release: THIRD PLACE FINISH AT PAUL RICARD FOR RACER READER
| PRESS RELEASE 3 April 2012 |
| THIRD PLACE FINISH AT PAUL RICARD FOR RACER READERBritain’s top female racing driver, Warwickshire’s Sarah Reader, celebrated another podium success at the weekend (30 Mar/1 Apr) when she contested the opening rounds of the SPEED Euroseries at the famous Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France.
Reader, 29 and from Loxley, near Stratford-upon-Avon, claimed a third-place finish at the wheel of her Juno sports-prototype racer in the first of the weekend’s events. Sarah shared the Juno with co-driver Chrissy Palmer (West Sussex), and qualified an excellent fourth on the grid for the 90-minute endurance race. “The timetable was really tight,” said former Kingsley School pupil Sarah, “and with only an hour between qualifying and the race the mechanics were up against it to get the car ready for the grid.” Palmer started the race and made a good getaway to move into third, handing over to Reader at half-distance. “Our stop was the quickest of the two-driver pairings and I rejoined in third. My stint was hard work as the high temperatures and the rubber laid down by other cars on the track meant the grip levels were low. We finished third, with the other Juno of Darren Burke and Duncan Williams just ahead; it was a great way to start the season and a brilliant reward for everyone who has been working so hard to improve the cars over the winter break.” Things did not go so smoothly in race two, however: Sarah started, and as she accelerated up to the startline for the rolling start she found she could not change up through the gears. “It just kept hitting the rev limiter, so I dropped from fifth on the grid to ninth. After several laps struggling with the issue I found a way to drive around it, got my head down and focused on my lap times.” After another slick driver change the Reader/Palmer Juno climbed to third until, with only six laps to go, Palmer was forced to limp to the pits with a throttle problem. “The team did a fantastic job to fix the car and get it back out, and we finished 11th; not what we hoped for but we still scored valuable points. “All in all it was a good weekend and I was really pleased to be on the podium. The upgrades we have made to the Juno over the winter have clearly worked we just need to keep pushing now. I am so grateful to the guys at Juno for a brilliant car and the hard work and long days they have put in.” Reader, who earlier this year received recognition of her status as Britain’s top female racer with the award of a Gold Star from the British Women Racing Drivers Club, will be in action again in early May at the Belgian Grand Prix circuit of Spa-Francorchamps. Ends For further information: Nick Carter 01530 563200 or Sarah Reader 07775 911208 Please note that Racer Releases are not the opinion of SPEEDEuroSeries.com. Releases are invited and published in order to assist competitors’ promotional activities. |
02/04/2012 – Ivan Bellarosa and the Wolf GB08 on the spotlight at Le Castellet (F) in the opening round of the Speed EuroSeries 2012. After the pole position set on Saturday, the Italian driver of Team Petrolube – Avelon Formula has been virtually perfect in both races obtaining two good victories and setting the two fastest laps. Guglielmo Belotti was also on the podium of race two thanks to a very good third place under the chequered flag.
The balance of the other Wolf cars was positive too. Six GB08 were in the top ten of race one thanks to the fifth place scored by Latif-Kinch (G-Cat Racing), the sixth of Guglielmo Belotti (Team Petrolube – Avelon Formula), the eighth of Porta-Cavailhes (Ibanez Racing Service), ninth of Bassora-Delafosse (D.B. Auto) and the tenth of Pizzuti-Francisci (Team Petrolube – Avelon Formula).
In race two, on top of the aforementioned Bellarosa and Belotti, the fourth place went to Rowland Kinch (G-Cat Racing), the sixth to Damien Delafosse (D.B. Auto), the ninth to Claudio Francisci (Team Petrolube – Avelon Formula) and tenth to Tony Mastroberardino (Team Petrolube – Avelon Formula).
Ivan Bellarosa:
“With the double victory and the fastest lap of both races we achieved all the objectives set for this weekend, including the best possible welcome to our new partner Petrolube. All in all has been a very positive weekend also for Wolf Racing Cars, with the Wolf GB08 again on top in terms of performance an reliability”.
Ivan Bellarosa is currently leading the classification with 33 points, that is the full score. The Speed EuroSeries will be back on track next 5 May at Spa (B).
