DAMS Lucas Oil again showed promising race pace during Round 6 of the FIA Formula 3 campaign, as the team began the second half of its maiden year in the series.

A tough qualifying session would make both races difficult at the Red Bull Ring, with Christian Ho taking 23rd, Matías Zagazeta 25th and debutant Nikita Johnson 30th.

In the Sprint Race, both Zagazeta and Johnson were able to move through the field, making overtakes to finish 17th and 18th respectively. Unfortunately, Ho was caught up in a collision in the early stages and was forced to retire.

Sunday’s Feature saw both Zagazeta and Johnson improve on their pace from the previous day, showing decent race speed, battling hard in a closely-matched field across 26 laps to earn 18th and 22nd. A five-place penalty for Saturday’s incident put Ho to 28th on the grid, although the Singaporean driver did set strong lap times in clear air, eventually taking 24th at the chequered flag.

Formula 3 now heads to Silverstone in the United Kingdom for Round 7 of the season, with Nicola Lacorte set to return in the #29 car in place of Johnson.

Matìas Zagazeta: “It was a complicated weekend for us. Qualifying was difficult, which put us on the back foot for both races. We managed to make strong starts and progress on Saturday and Sunday, so we’ll take a lot of data and some positives and head to Silverstone with confidence that we can return to the points.”

Qualifying: 25th | Sprint Race: 17th | Feature Race: 18th

Nikita Johnson: “A big thank you to DAMS Lucas Oil for the opportunity to race in FIA Formula 3 in Austria. Thanks also to Infinity Sports Management for helping to organise this at the last minute. I had a solid weekend overall, with 20 positions gained across the two races. Qualifying was frustrating but it was a good experience and I’m happy to have made progress across the event.”

Qualifying: 30th | Sprint Race: 18th | Feature Race: 22nd

Christian Ho: “I’m frustrated with the results this weekend, I came into the event in good spirits following my strong performance in Austria last year but we struggled for pace. We’ll move on to Silverstone, it’s a track I enjoy, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Qualifying: 23rd | Sprint Race: DNF | Feature Race: 24th

Charles Pic, Team Owner: “It was a tough event for us, Free Practice was messy with red flags and qualifying was tough. The field was very tightly-matched, so small margins made a big difference. In the Sprint Race, Matìas and Nikita were able to move forwards, even though we didn’t have the perfect set-up. Both found better pace on Sunday thanks to their running the day before, but Christian found it harder after his incident. He showed strong speed in free air, so that’s a positive heading to Silverstone. We have data to analyse ahead of this weekend and need to react quickly so we can return to the points.”

Image: Dutch Photo Agency