Roman Stanek had the race of his life, finishing just below the podium

Czech Formula 3 driver Roman Stanek finished a solid fourth place in the second race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, thus improving his best result in F3 to date. His best finish to date was in the second race at Monza in Italy, where he finished eighth.

Stanek started the race from second position after moving up from 16th to 11th following driver penalties, taking advantage of the reverse grid rule. For the Czech driver, it was his best starting position in a year and a half in F3.

At the start, Roman Stanek held his position and was able to take a small rest after two laps, as the Safety Car took to the track after a collision between Logan Sargeant and Tijmen Van der Helm. The race was restarted from the fifth circuit.

After the restart, Roman Stanek began to lose the lead to David Schumacher and lost second place on lap 9. His teammate Jake Crawford got ahead of him. But a few laps later he was back in silver.

It was Crawford who was forced to retire due to technical problems. And luck continued to favour the only current Czech driver in Formula 3.

On the 11th circuit, Juan Manuel Correa and Kaylen Frederick, who was third and fourth respectively, collided directly behind Stanek. The Virtual Safety Car once again brought a little more peace of mind to the Czech driver’s monoposto in the colours of the Hitech Grand Prix team. After the next restart, it was clear that Roman Stanek’s monopost did not have the same speed as the cars behind him.

the 18-year-old Czech lost his podium position on lap 18 when, after several unsuccessful attempts, he was overtaken by Frederik Vesti, who was much faster, especially on the straights. Stanek subsequently dropped behind championship leader Hauger and finished fifth.

He was given hope by the retirement of Victor Martins, who slowed from second place, probably because his monoposto had inadvertently switched to safety mode.

However, with two laps to go in the race, it was no longer possible to overtake Hauger thanks to the yellow flags displayed in the first sector.

Even so, it was a luxurious fourth place for the Czech racer, which is the best result for Stanek in his F3 career.

Roman Stanek can finally relax with a good result in his pocket and hopefully he will do even better in the following years of this year’s event.

Source:: FIA Formula 3