Single-seater racer Sean Walkinshaw posted two more points finishes during the latest outing for the EuroFormula Open at Spa-Francorchamps over the weekend, 6th/7th September, to maintain his top 10 placing in the championship standings.
Delivering consistently strong race pace, the Chipping Norton-based driver bounced back from a technical issue in the opening pre-event practice to secure a best finish of eighth position in a rain-affected round 11 on Saturday afternoon. He went on to add another top 10 result on Sunday in round 12 to take his season’s tally of points finishes to eight.
“It’s been quite a positive weekend really, the race pace was good and we did have to come from behind a bit after the technical problem in practice which reduced the amount of track time we had”, explained Sean, “I’m happy to have scored in both races, it’s frustrating not to have finished in the top five as we had the pace to but, overall, it wasn’t a bad weekend.”
Qualifying mid-grid for the opening race, after posting the 12th fastest time in the round 11 session on Saturday morning, Sean made a good getaway at the start but no sooner had the race begun than the Safety Car was required due to a two car tangle at La Source.
When the racing resumed after a couple of laps under caution, Sean held ninth position and was poised to make more progress just as rain started to fall. While some drivers elected to visit the pits for wet-weather tyres, the Campos Racing driver remained on track and climbed into sixth position before being edged back to seventh on lap nine.
Even though the conditions worsened, the drivers on slick rubber still held the advantage due to the time lost by the pit-stoppers and Sean moved up into the top five with just a few laps to run. On the 11th tour, though, he was nudged wide at the final turn and subsequently ran wide a lap later before ultimately finishing in eighth position.
Sunny skies greeted the competitors for round 12 on Sunday where Sean lined-up 13th on the grid for the second race of the weekend. After a good getaway, he managed to steer his Dallara F312 into 11th position and on lap two he moved into the points-paying top 10 after passing Che One Lim.
Moving into ninth on the next tour, Sean continued his progress apace and was into seventh position on lap five. Unfortunately nudged back to eighth on the sixth tour, he then slipped to ninth with five laps to run but on the 10th tour a clash with Wei Fung Thong dropped Sean back to the tail of the top 10 where he eventually finished.
“We proved again this weekend we have the pace to be consistently near the front, there were just a few unfortunate incidents along the way which affected the end result”, said the 20-year-old, “The first race was challenging with the conditions as they were, but the car felt good and the Campos guys did a great job again. Hopefully at Monza we can qualify better and try to fight for the podium.”
Next on the EuroFormula Open schedule is the penultimate event of the season, rounds 13 and 14, which will take place at the home of the Italian Grand Prix, Monza, on 27th/28th September.
Provisional 2014 EuroFormula Open Standings (after Rd12):
10th Sean Walkinshaw, 35pts
Provisional 2014 Spanish F3 Championship Standings (after Rd4):
10th Sean Walkinshaw, 13pts