Spa: Clouded joy for Fach and Jenzer

PODIUMS FOR SWISS TEAMS During the Belgian GP, Fach Auto Tech finished on the podium in the Porsche Supercup and Jenzer Motorsport in Formula 3 with one driver each. The death of Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert marred their joy. The fatal accident of Anthoine Hubert in Belgium and the severe injuries of Juan Manuel Correa, who was involved [...]

Editorial - September 3, 2019

The motorsport world is mourning the loss of Anthoine Hubert, last year's GP3 champion. The talented Frenchman would have turned 23 on September 22 (Photo: Joe Portlock/LAT Images/FIA F2 Championship).

The fatal accident involving Anthoine Hubert in Belgium and the serious injuries suffered by Juan Manuel Correa overshadowed the entire GP weekend. While Formula 2 did not even hold a race after the crash for understandable reasons, Formula 1 and its frame series completed the rest of the program according to schedule under a cloud of mourning. The joy of the two Swiss team bosses Alex Fach and Andreas Jenzer about the top performances of their respective best drivers was therefore correspondingly clouded.

Step forward
In the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Jaxon Evans scored his first podium in one of Fach Auto Tech's three 911 GT3 Cup cars. Starting from fourth on the grid, the young New Zealander immediately made up a position. Thanks to fast lap times, he stayed within striking distance of the two leaders over the 13 race laps.

Start of the Supercup race at Spa. On the left, Jaxon Evans advances to third place. In the middle, eventual winner Dylan Pereira, on the right runner-up Ayhancan Güven.

Team-mate Florian Latorre, who had secured the Schwyz-based team's first podium of the season in England in July, improved from P7 to P5 on the opening lap to collect twelve important points for the drivers' standings. With three races to go, the Frenchman is fifth in the standings and within striking distance of the top three in the championship.

Alex Fach: "This was a clear step forward. In the previous races we were often unlucky and fell short of our own expectations. The result at Spa shows that we made the most of the summer break. The two top-5 finishes are a great motivational boost for the season's final spurt."

Promising Japanese
The same feeling is shared by Andreas Jenzer, whose team even gave Yuki Tsunoda his first ever podium in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, the successor series to GP3. With the third fastest time in qualifying, the 19-year-old Japanese driver put himself in an excellent position to do just that in Saturday morning's first race. In a battle among several drivers, the Red Bull Honda protégé even held second place at times, but had to settle for 6th after 38 minutes.

Yuki Tsunoda has never driven so far at the front of the Formula 3 field. The Japanese driver is sponsored by Red Bull.

At least this meant a place on the second row of the grid for the second race, in accordance with the regulations. This time, the Jenzer junior immediately moved up to second place, which he brought home. With his first podium, the Japanese confirmed the rapid learning process with five points finishes in succession and already seven in twelve races overall.

Lack of experience
Tsunoda's teammates Andreas Estner and Giorgio Carrara, on the other hand, have not yet managed a top-10 finish in their F3 races. For the team boss, this can also be explained logically.

Andreas Jenzer: "You have to remain realistic: I have three Formula 4 drivers who are moving up to Formula 3. There are some cracks there who have never come close to the top 10. You have to give them time. Yuki is always blazingly fast in the races, but because he also wants to be in the top five in qualifying, that sometimes goes awry. It's important that people on the outside also see that our Formula 3 cars are fast."

Yuki Tsunoda is the strongest of this year's three Jenzer Juniors in Formula 3.

Scherer remains below expectations
Fabio Scherer left Belgium without a result to show for it. A year ago, the Lucerne native, who drives for the Sauber Junior Team by Charouz, finished second on the podium in the "old" Formula 3 on his favorite track. This time he was even far away from the points. A hydraulic problem already ruined his qualifying session, so he had to line up at the very back.

Fach Auto Tech, Jenzer Motorsport and Scherer will have their next opportunity to make their mark as early as next weekend. In Monza, the Porsche Supercup will hold its last race in Europe before the final double-header in Mexico on October 26/27. For Formula 3, Italy is also the penultimate stop before the early finale at Sochi (Russia) on September 28/29.