Hard GP3 weekend for Ocean

In what is considered the temple of motorsport, the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium, Ocean Racing Technology encountered one of the hardest weekends in their rookie year of competition in the GP3 Series. Instead of a dream weekend, the Portuguese team was the victim of a series of incidents that did not allow their pilots to fight for podium places and solid point scores.

The first race of the weekend came to a premature end after an accident involving Robert Cregan saw first the safety car deployed followed by a red flag. The accident was a result of a touch from an opponent that saw Robert’s car careen violently into the tire barrier. The medical team rushed the Irish driver to hospital but thankfully he only suffered a few bruises, despite having to miss the second race.

Due to the shortened race, Kevin Ceccon struggled to make up a lot of places and finished 12th after starting 15th on the grid. It was a similar result for Carmen Jorda, who didn’t have a lot of room to recovery and crossed the line in 26th place.

In the second race, the Portuguese team had high hopes for Kevin Ceccon. The Italian driver started in 12th place and by the end of the first lap he was up to sixth after a brilliant start! However, a touch from an opponent put him off the track and to the back of the field, leaving him to cross the line in 20th.  Jorda finished in 23rd place.

Kevin Ceccon was unable to hide his frustrations: “In the first race there was not much we could do. It was my goal to gain places and get into a position that counted, but the premature end to the race made that impossible. In the second race I made a remarkable start that put me in sixth position and I continued to climb up the field, but a touch wiped out all my aspirations. Next weekend, the last race of the season, will be my ‘home’ race and I hope everything goes better there,” concluded the Italian.

Carmen Jorda had a difficult weekend. “The Spa circuit is the most demanding of the season, about seven miles long and where a small mistake can cost dearly. Unfortunately I spun in qualifying and that didn’t allow me as much track time as I would have liked to balance the car. The first race was too short and the second I was improving lap by lap. Now I’m focused on next week-end in Monza, a very fast circuit,” he said.

Robert Cregan is improving from his accident and is expected to make a speedy recovery… “Regarding the race there is not much to say. I made a good start and made up some positions but I was having problems with the top speed. When looking for an opportunity to overtake at turn 10, another car touched me and sent me violently into the tire barrier. Fortunately it was not anything serious, physically. A big thank you to the medical staff and the circuit hospital that assisted me and also a big thank you to the team for always giving me a competitive car,” said the Irishman.

Tiago Monteiro and Jose Guedes did not hide their dissatisfaction: “It was a hard weekend that hopefully does not happen again. Robert’s accident left us quite apprehensive but fortunately there were no serious implications to the driver. We also regret the contact to Kevin in the second race, as we were hoping to have a better race that would have allowed allow us to score points and maybe finish on the podium. Now we must move forward and continue to do our jobs in the best way possible for the season finale,” they concluded.

The next weekend of competition will take place in a week at the Italian circuit of Monza.