Spa: Jan Charouz event summary

Jan Charouz scored points on both races of the World Series by Renault in Belgium

Jan Charouz managed to follow his eighth place from race 1 with another top 10 finish in the second race of the World Series by Renault 3.5 at Spa- Francorchamps which took place in the wet on Sunday. He fought out another two points thanks to the ninth place. Walter Grubmuller Jr. with second P1 Motorsport car finished 18th on Sunday.

Sunday finally saw forecasted rain at the Spa-Francorchamps track and the rain affected the whole day. The qualifying in the morning must have been ended six minutes before the plan after one of the drivers crashed out. Majority of the drivers including both P1 Motorsport drivers therefore did not have chance to put in planned quick lap in the end. Jan Charouz started from 10th position and Walter Grubmuller Jr. was three places behind him.

As the start of the race was approaching the rain got heavier and there were even hailstones. The director of the race decided to postpone the start for safety reasons for almost half an hour and the start itself took place behind the safety car. It came to the pits after two laps and the real race started. Jan Charouz successfully attacked one of his rivals and soon moved to the eighth position. He kept it until his scheduled mandatory pitstop.

The rain was not only factor that affected the outcome of the race as no lees than 1e drivers got drive through penalty. Jan Charouz was one of them. The reason for the penalty was the fact that mechanics did not manage to change their tyres on the grid in allowed time. The Czech driver was fighting for points despite the penalty and was running on the edge of the top 10. Walter Grubmuller Jr. made a mistake on the penultimate lap when he was ninth just ahead of Charouz. The Austrian went to the gravel and finished 18th while the Czech driver moved to ninth.

Jan Charouz, P1 Motorsport driver: "Once again, we did not have luck in the qualifying. I was all the time behind another cars and I did not see anything with the spray coming out from cars in the front at the end the qualifying was called off early. When we were waiting on the grid the rain got heavier and everybody changed tyres. Unfortunately, we did not manage to do that before five minutes board and like another nine cars got drive through penalty as a result. The race itself was very demanding because there was zero visibility behind another car. Moreover, our car did not work well in the wet as we had a dry setup and it was extremely difficult to put heat to the tyres. At least I am pleased that I did not a single mistake in such difficult race and scored points in both races."

Walter Grubmuller Jr., P1 Motorsport driver: "The conditions during the start had been treacherous but it was getting better as the race progressed. I was running ninth and was more and more confident. However, the car understeered heavily on the entry to the Rivage corner and I went to the gravel. The marshals helped me back to the track, so I managed to finish the race at least, although only the 18th position. It is shame that I lost some points. Anyway, it was still pretty good weekend thanks to the seventh place on Saturday."

Antonin Charouz, manager: "The weather was really terrible at Spa-Francorchamps today. Unfortunately, as many of our rivals we got penalty for late change of the tyres on the grid but it was definitely the right thing to do from even from the safety point of the view. Moreover, Jan's car did nor perfectly today. All in all we are slightly satisfied because we fulfilled what we had wanted before the start of the season to finish races with Jan in the top 10. Obviously we fell that it could have been a little bit better."

The World Series by Renault continues in the fortnight time in Monaco as part of the Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend. Jan Charouz is going to have his first taste of the famous street circuit in the principality.