DAMS Lucas Oil narrowly missed out on points in Round 5 of the FIA Formula 3 Championship at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as they showed encouraging pace in both events.

In Saturday’s Sprint, Christian Ho quickly moved his way up the order and completed several overtakes to cross the line in 11th, gaining 12 positions, as he finished outside the top 10 by just 0.8 seconds.

Matías Zagazeta would improve 10 places to clinch 18th while Nicola Lacorte, who started both events from the back of the grid due to a penalty picked up in qualifying, also showed positive pace to finish just behind the Peruvian in 19th.

Sunday’s Sprint saw Ho again making up positions in the early stages as the Singaporean secured 14th, with teammate Zagazeta following him home to come 15th. Lacorte was involved in an incident on track while fighting for 19th, which he would later receive a 10-second penalty for, as well as further two penalties for Safety Car infringements, meaning the Italian was classified in 26th.

Following the completion of this triple-header, F3 now takes a short break before getting back underway on 27-29 June in Austria.

Christian Ho: “Barcelona is a track I know well and have always had great results in past championships competing there. I was disappointed by our performance on Friday and not getting into the top 12, but the changes we made overnight made us a lot more competitive in the races. We narrowly missed out on the points in the Sprint, but in both events, we showed solid race pace which is a positive. Our full focus is now on Austria and delivering a strong result there.”

Qualifying: 23rd | Sprint Race: 11th | Feature Race: 14th

Matìas Zagazeta: “It’s been an intense few weeks with the triple-header, but I’m pleased to finish off on a positive note, gaining 13 positions in the Feature. We’ve learned a lot from these recent rounds, and I know that as a team we can put our mistakes right to ensure a strong second half of the campaign.”

Qualifying: 28th | Sprint Race: 18th | Feature Race: 15th

Nicola Lacorte: “I’m disappointed by this weekend and it shows that I still have a lot to learn, but I believe with the support of the team that we can overcome this. I’m even hungrier for points and think that we can score strong results together.”

Qualifying: 26th | Sprint Race: 19th | Feature Race: 26th

Charles Pic, Team Owner: “The race pace we showed throughout the weekend was encouraging, but ultimately, we missed out on the points. We made some mistakes with the set-up on Friday which cost us a shot at the top 12. It proves how difficult it is as a new team in the championship to go up against so many experienced crews. However, in the Sprint, Christian made several overtakes and was less than a second off the points, while Matías and Nicola also moved up well. The Feature saw more of the same from Christian, even though he struggled a bit more with tyre degradation, and Matías finished just behind. We’ve learned a lot from the first five rounds of the season, and we’ll continue to work hard to ensure we have a strong second half of the campaign.”

Image: Dutch Photo Agency