Jasin Ferati Newsletter No. 9 / 2021 (September 27)
Trouble with the track limits
The last-minute comeback with KIC Motorsport in the Formula Regional by Alpine gave Jasin Ferati an emotional roller coaster ride. The speed of the 18-year-old from Winterthur was absolutely competitive in Valencia, but too many mistakes spoiled the result.
On the Circuito Ricardo Tormo, the young Formula 3 drivers had problems staying within the track limits. Constantly leaving the track with all four wheels made for a lap time prank orgy and a plethora of time penalties and demotions. Ferati was also affected by these in both qualifying sessions and races. Places 32 and 31 in the official result lists were a bitter pill for the rookie. The speed shown and the willingness to attack shown in race 2 still make us optimistic for the next starts in Mugello.
“The results are disappointing, but not everything was bad. I was able to keep up in midfield and would have gone further up the field without incident,” said Ferati with conviction. "After two Sitting in the car again for months was exciting. The fear that it would take me some time to set acceptable lap times in the 34-start field was unfounded. I was immediately able to keep up with my new teammates at KIC Motorsport and was running in positions 23 to 28. Since I haven't ridden for more than eight weeks, my body had to get used to the enormous G-forces in the four-hour session on Thursday. That was really special.”
23rd place, only 0.8 seconds behind Franco Colapinto's best time, was also recorded after the first official practice session on Friday, but this time was canceled due to too many track limit violations. Ferati then wanted to do better in the second practice session, but this time a technical problem in the form of a torn toothed belt prevented him from doing so. His best lap, which would have meant 22nd place, was also canceled in the first qualifying session on Saturday. So he started the race four places further back, but then quickly lost a few places due to spinning wheels and subsequently got stuck behind slower competitors.
In the second qualifying the four best times were canceled for the Swiss, so that he had to start the final race as 34th and last. This time, however, he was wide awake at the start. "I got off to a good start and was able to move forward straight away," he said happily. “I gained eight positions in the first six laps, had a pack of seven other riders right in front of me and was faster. Unfortunately, when I dared the next attack around the outside, there was contact. I was able to continue, but damaged the underside of my car when I got back on the track. As a result, I had terrible understeer in the left-hand bends and, after a spin, had great difficulty keeping the car under control.” Despite this, Ferati bravely continued to fight and finished 26th. Unfortunately, two further penalties for leaving the track without permission also ruined this result.
Valencia, Race 1: 1. Franco Colapinto (Arg) 31:53.740. 2. David Vidales (Sp) 0.417 back. 3. Mari Boya (Sp) 4,092. 4. Paul Aron (Est) 6,049. 5. Michal Belov (Ru) 10.817. – Also: 12. Grégoire Saucy. 30. Lena Buehler. 32. Jasin Ferati (all scenes). - Race 2: 1. Belov 32:03.558. 2. Colapinto 1.237 back. 3. Saucy 2.257. 4. Isaac Hadjar (Fr) 3,379. 5. Vidales 3,852. – Also: 25. Bühler. 31. Ferati.
overall standings after 16 of 20 races: 1. Saucy 239 points. 2nd Hadrien David (Fr) 161. 3rd Zane Maloney (Bermuda) 149. 4th Hadjar 123, best rookie. 5. Aron 121. 6. Colapinto 119. 7. Gabriele Mini (It) 110. 8. Alex Quinn (Gb) 104. – Also: 35. Jasin Ferati (Sz). 38. Lena Buehler (Sz). – Team classification: 1st R-ACE Grand Prix 390. 2nd ART Grand Prix 372. 3rd Prema Powerteam 227. 4th Arden Motorsport 181. 5th MP Motorsport 134. 6th GA Racing 80. 7th Van Amersfoort Racing 63. 8 KIC Motorsport 48 9 FA Racing 42 10 Monolite Racing 16 11 DR Formula 0 12 JD Motorsport 0