Challenging Formula Renault Weekend for American Racer Pete Olson

June 20, 2012 - PRLog -- Zhuhai International Circuit, Zhuhai China -

With mixed weather for the race weekend, qualifying for the Asia Formula Renault Championship Rounds 3&4 took place Saturday afternoon June 16th under rain conditions, following both official practice sessions Saturday morning [Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShVivZBxN3w]. With red flags halting the qualifying no less than three times due to incidents, Drift Innovation/BELL helmets/ChildFund International race driver Pete Olson was only able to put in a single ‘flyer’.

“I waited in the pit for space, went out and did a single lap, just getting going, and that was it, the checkered came out – no way to set a good lap time. I knew that with the qualifying results, the only answer was to try to get up the field as quickly as possible in Sunday’s first race, and gain as many positions as I could - the starting grid for Race Two is determined by the results of Race One.”

Sunday’s first race took place at 10:45am under cloudy skies, on a track still drying from morning rains. Starting 14 of 18 on the grid, Olson worked his way up the field no less than 6 positions in the first five laps, aggressively charging up to 8th by the time the safety car was deployed halfway through the race to clear an incident on track. When the race recommenced with a rolling start, Olson was jockeying for position with another driver going into turn one at the end of the straight when the driver made contact with Olson, forcing the American racer off the track into the gravel runoff area.

“We were coming down the straight into turn one, dicing a bit, then I moved towards the left, on the race line, to get a good shot through turn one. He just came over from the middle trying to crowd me out or something, slammed into my car and hit me off into the gravel with a broken wing and steering rod. He had absolutely no business doing what he did.”

With his hard charge up the field suddenly ended, Olson DNF’d [Did Not Finish] for Race One, thus starting 13th for Race Two at 3:45pm - again held under cloudy skies and a damp track after midday showers. The American got off to a fast start and picked up several positions in the ten lap race to finish 10th of 18 [Race Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YSOycO9rBU]



“Obviously I’m disappointed about the weekend” said Olson, “but there’s no use at all dwelling on it, there’s no point in excuses. With qualifying going the way it did, the deck was stacked against me for the weekend - but that’s racing, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this sport it’s that you never know what will happen. The only thing to do is prepare for the next race, which I am sure will be a major improvement over this weekend’s results. I have no doubts about what I can do in a race car.”

We wish Pete the best of luck in the next Formula Renault Championship race day, to be held on September 15, 2012 at Zhuhai International Circuit, before the series moves on to the Shanghai International F1 Circuit.

For more information on Drift Innovation/BELL helmets/ChildFund International Formula Renault race driver Pete Olson, please visit http://www.peteolson.com.

xxx


ChildFund International Contact Agent for Pete Olson:
Cynthia Price
Director, Communications
ChildFund International
2821 Emerywood Parkway
Richmond, VA 23294 USA
Phone:   804.756.2722

Pete Olson
Instructor, Test Driver
Champ Motorsport
Zhuhai International Circuit
Jin Ding, Zhuhai City, Guangdong 519085
China PRC
Mobile:   +86 136 3126 3565
pete@Champ.cc
pete@peteolson.com
www.Champ.cc