De Vries takes second after heat crash

Despite a collision during one of the heats (owing to which he also lost the advantage of his formidable pole position), Nyck De Vries managed to turn the situation to his advantage. Starting in 16th position, he reached 5th position in the pre-final, before climbing on the second step of the podium.

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The third round of the WSK – the top-level series with all the best international pilots – revealed a faster and more solid Nyck De Vries than ever. After conquering the pole position on the difficult Lonato circuit in Italy, he has revealed an increasingly evident burst of speed. It is at the centre of the group that he has shown all his talent during the final phase, multiplying his passes and making perfect starts.

This young Dutch pilot (he is only 13) commented his weekend. “I am very satisfied with my performance, as well as with that of my whole team. We only had one serious problem, a collision during a heat. The accident could have had serious consequences, but I came through it all right. During free practice, I had a good performance and I managed to set a very good lap during timed practice, which allowed me to obtain my second pole position this season. Then, the accident at the start of a qualifying heat not only pushed me back in 16th position in the pre-final starting grid, but also damaged my chassis. We had to use a different, slightly different chassis. That forced us to change the set-up to find the same level of competitiveness again”.

Motivated as usual and extremely focussed on the race, Nyck made a remarkable pre-final start and soon doubled several competitors. Positions stretched out in the group, but pilot De Vries, with his usual determination, continued his catching up, exploiting at best his Zanardi-XTR by Keijzer Racing. Starting fifth in the final, it didn’t take him long to reach the leading group. “I didn’t want to lose touch with the group, so it was important to do the best in the first turns, in order to try and conquer positions quickly. However, the first laps proved to be difficult, because it took the chassis a few laps to perform at its best. I reached the second position though, behind Maïsano”.

The two drivers drove at the same pace, so much so that De Vries was not in a position to attack his rival. “I set the best lap in the final, but he managed to keep the second of advantage conquered in the first laps”. With the victory scored at Muro Leccese in March and this second place, Nyck has reinforced his second position in the Championship and remains more than ever one of the favourites
for the title. “Next round will be held at Sarno in July and it will be even more important. But before that, I want to prepare at best for the European Championship qualifying, which will be held in Sweden, at Göteborg”.

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