By Irina Boyarskaya
Photo: Akis Temperidis
Our team liked the format of the racing weekend in Zandvoort very much: free practices and qualifications on Saturday and two races on Sunday. Intensely, comfortably, without tiring pauses, but not in lack of time. The Dutch planned the event well!
The racing Zandvoort opened for us on Friday: Division B drivers had the opportunity to practice there before the beginning of the round. Of course, all the team was there, including Gaidai. And Kevin Estre, who used to drive a lot on this circuit in the German Championship, played the role of Oleksandr's coach.
O. Gaidai: "When you come to an unknown track, you always start from scratch, from the basics, and then you increase your speed step by step. But when you are helped by a coach, you initially start from another level understanding how fast you can drive here. The question is only when you will be able to do that."
Oleksandr liked the circuit at once: "It is a very interesting circuit. It has close walls, small escape zones; narrow places take turns with very wide ones, and all this – with a great number of uphills and downhills, turns with positive profile. It is something in between a usual old track and a street track. It somehow resembles me Nurburgring.
The most interesting thing will be that almost nobody has driven here before. There is no "time on track" factor: everybody will drive as he or she can."
It became clear on Sunday morning that we will need luck together with our skills: it was crowded as on Monday morning in downtown on the track. The red flag was demonstrated on the track during both qualifications: it was not for the demonstration of May Day, but the sign that somebody flew off onto the gravel, and the rest of the competitors had to keep the speed limit, diet and criminal code rigidly. So Oleksandr Gaidai could make fast laps not so fast as they could have been.
O. Gaidai: "There was a red flag on my fastest lap during the first qualification, and then the wheels cooled down, and it was impossible to demonstrate the same time results. There was another red flag on the fast lap in the second round. I entered on the pit lane, left it for the second time and met very intense traffic in the middle of the fast lap. Some driver in front of me proceeded very slowly, I signaled to him with lights and almost pushed his bumper, but he did not give way to me.
I could have been in top-5 both times according to the speed, but my luck brought me eighth and twelfth places only."
A.Jouannem: "The red flag destroyed my session in Q1, as after we re-entered I found slower cars because in the 5 minutes that were left we didn't have spare time to wait, so I did my laps in the traffic. In Q2 I had to face a lot of traffic as well".
Immediately after the red signal light had been turned off, there was a logjam on the starting line with Menno van de Grijspaarde, Jesse Van Kuijk and the well-known Carlos Rivas. On a good note, the organizers should have removed the logjam from the track and restarted the race, but they preferred to let the safety car enter the track for 12 minutes of 30. But till that moment Alex Jouannem managed to reach the 12th position.
After the restart both drivers of Tsunami RT – Centro Porsche Padova pushed the accelerator in such a way that the competitors could only wonderingly observe how they were consecutively being overrun by the Porsche cars under the Ukrainian flag. Oleksandr Gaidai was already the sixth, and Alex Jouannem – the seventh. Gaidai was the Division B leader, Florian Latorre was three seconds ahead, but it seemed that our driver was targeted to the fifth place in the absolute classification... And at that very moment...
O. Gaidai: "I made a small mistake on the last lap, 3-4 turns before the finish: I blocked the wheels and flew off on the gravel. A small stone broke my radiator. I was trying to reach the finish, but flew off on the last turn. It happens sometimes. I wanted to finish in top-5 so much..."
Alex Jouannem took up the torch and finished on the sixth position - and the first among Benelux drivers. As usual, Matthieu Jaminet won the race. It seems that he has only the slightest chance to remain without the Champion's title this season.
Porsche Carrera Cup France 2016, round 3, Zandvoort, 25-26/06/16
Race 1 (overall)
1. JAMINET Mathieu 13 laps
2. BELTOISE Vincent +7.894
3. DE NARDA Joffrey +8.566
...6. JOUANNEM Alexandre (Tsunami RT) +16.087
...17. GAIDAI Oleksandr (Tsunami RT) +1 lap
...21. LAURENT Thomas +3 laps
The second race of Sunday was more difficult for Gaidai with his 12th starting position. Oh, sorry, it was the 10th position already, because Oleksandr managed to overrun the two competitors after the start. Some more time, and he was the seventh already! And Alex the junior reached the third position in the overall classification!
But there is one factor in the PCCF races of this season that eliminates the result of a driver it influences on as the black mark. This factor is Carlos Rivas. We introduced this driver to you both in Barcelona and in Spa. It is better to say that he introduced himself (of unhappy memory). And in this race Carlos Rivas appeared behind Oleksandr Gaidai...
O. Gaidai: "Rivas pushed me hard twice from behind and then began to push me in the door. One of the strikes caused a problem with the drive and the wheel, and it was very difficult to drive after that."
Oleksandr found himself outside the prize podium, and Alex Jouannem was our only hope. And he did not let us down!
A.Jouannem: "Many rivals started to make mistakes, because tyres wore out very quickly and I was able to avoid mistakes and keep a good pace. For two laps I gave a fight fo 2nd but it was too risky as the tyres immediately began to degrade. I realized that it would be smarter to score points for the 3rd place in the race.
Bronze in the overall classification and the best result among Benelux drivers is an outstanding result that continues our unbroken series of "no round without a podium".
Porsche Carrera Cup France 2016, round 3, Zandvoort, 25-26/06/16
Race 2 (overall)
1. JAMINET Mathieu 17 laps
2. ANDLAUER Julien +7.252
3. JOUANNEM Alexandre (Tsunami RT) +8.132
...17. GAIDAI Oleksandr (Tsunami RT) +32.197
...22. HOOGARS Yannick +1 lap
Our visit to Holland was a peculiar one that gave us less result but more experience than we had expected.
O. Gaidai: "Each race brings different emotions, but this round left a very good impression of competition. I was driving well, and it's a plus. I liked the track, it's another plus. In general, we had a rather good weekend. The Championship continues, and we prepare ourselves to the next races."
We will meet the midsummer in Mugello, as always. Follow our news!