SMP Racing driver Robert Shwartzman took second place in Race 2 of the fourth FIA Formula 3 round, which took place on July 12-14 at Silverstone, the United Kingdom.
In the Friday qualifying session, Robert was sixth fastest as there were some difficulties with finding the car balance. In the Saturday race, Shwartzman was classified fifth. On Sunday, the Russian started from fourth position.At the very beginning of the race, he he was overtaken by his rival, but in the second half of the race he cut the gap and started to attack. He managed to blister past three rivals ahead, gain second position, and keep it until the finish line. Shwartzman also set the best lap of the race and scored two extra points for it. The SMP Racing driver keeps the lead in the FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers’ standings with 114 points.
“The race was intense,” SMP racing driver Robert Shwartzman said. “I tried to get close to my rivals, but at first I couldn’t drive as I wanted - I think the rear tires overheated. Therefore, I had to step back a little to return the rubber to its normal state. After that, I had a good balance and was able to catch up with the leading group of my rivals. We had a fair fight with Lundgaard and Piquet, I quickly overtook them, and a lap later I made a move for second position. Then my task was to build a gap from my rivals behind. And when I had a solid 2.5s gap, I decided to concentrate on going quickest to get two extra points. Of course, I would have been happy to win today, but I believe that in the given circumstances we did a good job and scored good points.”The fifth round of FIA Formula 3 will take place on August 2-4 at Hungaroring in Hungary.
