Mechanical Issue Strikes Olson in AFR Round 6

Sept. 17, 2012 - PRLog -- Zhuhai International Circuit –

The stands packed to capacity, photographers and television crew catching all the action, today’s Asia Formula Renault Round 6 took place at 3pm under a bright and warm blue sky in China’s southern seaside resort city of Zhuhai, one hour from Hong Kong.

With the grid order determined by the finishing results of yesterday’s Round 5, BELL helmets/Drift Innovation/ChildFund International pilot Pete Olson started on the 3rd row. Once again getting off to a quick start, Olson dropped back one position to 6th place after the first turn, but pressured the 5th place driver with a good battle that took place over the next two laps – until Olson’s car started misfiring and then completely quit.

“The race was alright, just bad luck with the mechanical issue” said Olson. “I know the mechanics did all they could to prepare the car, but as they say ‘that’s racing’. “We can also still improve with the setup, as the car is sliding severely going into turn 14, ‘snap oversteer’ – which really hurts my speed in that all-important corner and is costing significant laptime. We’d actually gone in the wrong direction on the setup after qualifying, as it turns out. The weekend is over but I’ll be testing the car next week to try some new setup changes – word is that we are going back to the Kuhmo tires instead of the Hankooks we used this weekend, but I want to make sure we are ready in case we do go back to the Hankooks again. It is very frustrating to know that you can drive faster, to push harder, but the car is mechanically on an artificially lower limit.”

Olson, who was recently featured on ChildFund International’s blog at  http://blog.childfund.org/2012/09/14/driven-by-compassion... will be racing in Rounds 7&8 of the 2012 Asia Formula Renault Championship just four weeks from now, at the famous Shanghai International F1 Circuit on October 20-21. Check in on his website at http://www.peteolson.com for updates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2j6jJI1lYA