There were clear improvements every time Sebastian Gravlund was on the track in the second round of the Eurocup3 championship, which took place at Motorland Aragon in Spain.
After a tough weekend with technical problems with the new Eurocup3 car in the first race weekend of the year, Sebastian Gravlund was in good spirits. Despite having less time behind the wheel compared to his competitors, he made his mark on the race in Aragon. The practice sessions showed good speed in Gravlund’s car, and his best time in qualifying secured him a seventh place, making him the second-best rookie in the field.
The first race was action-packed, and Sebastian found himself in an intense battle for positions at the top of the field. When the finish line was crossed for the last time, he finished in sixth place, again as the second-best rookie. And that suited Gravlund well:
– It’s really nice to have some success after the first race weekend where nothing really worked. These are brand-new cars, so I was a bit worried about the lack of experience after Spa-Francorchamps, but I can see that the speed is there. The rest is about gaining experience with the car and the competitors, says Sebastian Gravlund, who didn’t have quite as much luck in the next race.
In this race, he had qualified as the 11th-best driver after making a driving mistake on his absolute fastest lap. These things happen, and during the race, there was overtaking and fighting for positions. At least until a collision put a stop to the battles:
– There was really some tough racing. It was super fun with some great duels, swapping places, and delivering some good entertainment … but then we came down to the first turn, where we tried to drive through three cars side by side. You can’t do that, explains Sebastian Gravlund, who had to retire with a damaged race car.
– A wheel suspension broke, and there’s nothing else to do but park the car. It was a bit unfortunate because the weekend has gone really well, and both I and the team have taken a good step in the right direction, so it would have been nice to get the car to the finish line – maybe even with a podium finish on top, says Sebastian Gravlund, who, in turn, can already look forward to one of the season’s highlights in a week and a half. The next race will be at the “Temple of Speed” – Autodromo Internazionale Monza.
– Monza is just one of those legendary tracks, and I’m really looking forward to driving there. It’s one of those tracks that every racer dreams of checking off, and it will be an experience to drive where all the legends have driven over the years. It will also be a huge challenge, I think, says Sebastian Gravlund about the high-speed track, which places entirely different demands on the car’s setup – and the driver’s handling:
– Down there, we’ll be driving with as little downforce on the car as possible to get more speed out of it. On the flip side, it means that it becomes a bit more lively in turns and under braking, so I’m a bit excited about that. The whole Eurocup3 concept involves a very limited test program, so I expect a steep learning curve – but it’s also cool, says Sebastian Gravlund.
The race at Monza will take place on June 10-11.