Formula 3: Sandro Zeller unbeatable
FRUITS OF WORK One week after Imola, Sandro Zeller again won both Formula 3 races for the Drexler Automotive Cup in Most (CZ). Behind the successes is a lot of work and experience of Jo Zeller Racing. In Formula 1, two consecutive Grands Prix are not unusual to accommodate 20 to 21 races in a season. For the private drivers with [...]
In Formula 1, two consecutive Grands Prix are not unusual in order to fit 20 to 21 races into a season. But for the private drivers with their race cars entered in the Drexler-Automotive Formula Cup, they mean pure stress.
Double victory with both cars
So immediately after the second race in Imola, Jo and Sandro Zeller's team traveled home by truck to Oetwil am See. There they spent just under two and a half days servicing the Formula 3 cars in their care ("we were at the limit") before the next trip took them some 700 kilometers to the Autodrom in Most, northwest of Prague.
Rounds 7 and 8 of this Central European race car championship (formerly Remus Cup and Austria Cup respectively) were held there as part of the NASCAR GP Czechia. At least the trip was worthwhile for Jo Zeller Racing: Sandro Zeller again took two race wins, Florian Münger won twice the Trophy classification for older Formula 3 cars with his last year's champion car (Dallara F306).
The Czech rebuffs
Without the Italian F2000 Trophy, there were only 14 Formula 3 and Formula Renault 2.0 cars on the grid. Among them, however, was the young Czech Tom Beckhäuser on a Dallara F308-OPC-Spiess from the fleet of organizer Franz Wöss, a local hero hungry for victory.
After the latter's promising best time in free practice, which Sandro Zeller used to fine-tune the Dallara F312-Mercedes entered this year, the Swiss hit back in qualifying. Starting from pole position, Zeller led over 16 laps in the first race with Beckhäuser in his slipstream but unable to find a way past him.
Already 12.5 seconds behind, Italy's Andrea Cola finished third in his Dallara F312-VW. Struggling with the poor handling of his Dallara F312-Mercedes, Antoine Bottiroli only made it to 4th place. Behind the man from Geneva, the other Swiss Thomas Aregger (Dallara F306-VW) and Marcel Tobler (Dallara F308-Mercedes) dueled for 5th place for several laps. When Tobler spun, Aregger had a clear run.
Not only a formality, but also a lot of preparatory work
Because Sandro Zeller, to his own annoyance, couldn't put together a really good lap in the second qualifying session, Beckhäuser was allowed to put his car diagonally in front of him on pole for the second race and also take the lead after the start. But already in the course of the first lap the 27-year-old from Zurich made short work of the Czech.
After two driving errors in pursuit of Zeller and problems with the gearshift, Beckhäuser parked his car. After that, Sandro Zeller's seventh win of the season was really just a matter of form.
However, there is a lot of work behind this, in addition to driving skills, as the defending champion explains.
Sandro Zeller: "The Dallara F312 that we used at Mücke Motorsport in the Formula 3 European Championship in 2012 is a completely different car to the F306 I raced last year. With its underbody and downforce, it's faster in the corners but slower on the straights. That's why we have to find a compromise on every track. What's more, we're running on Pirelli tires here instead of Hankook as in the past. For the set-up work we only ever have the race weekends available. But thanks to our experience in Formula 3, we know what needs to be done in each case."
Swiss double lead in the championship
Bottiroli's team also put a lot of effort into providing the Geneva driver with a car in which he was able to finish second in the second race. The third place on the podium again went to Andrea Cola. Marcel Tobler, technically supported by Jo Zeller Racing, achieved fourth place with a respectable margin. Thomas Aregger entered only the first race as a substitute driver for Luca Iannacone at Franz Wöss Racing.
In the championship (see link to the table), Sandro Zeller leads clearly ahead of Bottiroli and Cola, also Münger in the Trophy, with three events still to go. In the Swiss Formula 3 Cup supported by Horag Hotz Racing, Zeller also has a virtually unassailable lead over Bottiroli and Kurt Böhlen, who is absent in Most.
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