Formula European Masters
Robert Doornbos A-1 Ring race notes
Robert Doornbos to defend and cement his position in the driver classification; the Dutch in the point zone, again. The Austrian A1Ring circuit hosted the 7th appointment of the F3 Euro Series. Last week Robert made his debut in the British F3 ...
Published: Sep 10, 2003, 4:16 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Robert Doornbos to defend and cement his position in the driver classification; the Dutch in the point zone, again.
The Austrian A1Ring circuit hosted the 7th appointment of the F3 Euro Series. Last week Robert made his debut in the British F3 championship on the demanding and fascinating circuit of Spa-Francorchamps with Team Menu Motorsport. Doornbos took the wheel of the Dallara-Opel and stood in for the injured Rob Austin. During the entire weekend race Robert put in a brilliant performances: 2nd and 4th position in free practice and an unforgettable POLE position for race2; the first ever pole of both the Dutch guy and Team Menu.
In bright sunshine "Bos" (as Robert is called from his friends) suffered some set up problems and could not qualify, for Race1, his team Ghinzani Dallara-Mugen #16 in a better position than the 16th he obtained. It was a tough qualifying session for Robert as he continuously suffered of understeering, then the session was interrupted by red flag so he was not able to improve his quickest lap time. Starting from 16th position on the grid, Robert managed to get a quick start and passed a lot of competitors even if he continued to feel understeering (and also oversteering, this time). Despite of this, Bos pushed hard for all the 19 laps "It was a demanding day, today. Qualifying for race1 were difficult as I had understeering on my car; unfortunately we did not improve my car for the race so it was a tough race! Anyway I could pass some drivers and finish close to the point zone", said Robert.
Race2 provided to a better result to Robert Doornbos. He grabbed an 11th place with a best time of 1:27.964. "We could do better," admitted Bos "For sure I was happier last week, when I had the pole position.. My car was good with old tyres, but as I changed them with new ones I begun to suffer understeering. Normally in the last fast lap it is easier to set the quickest time, but I could sign mine only at the penultimate. At the end of the session someone spun in front of me and brought a lot of dirty on the track, so I spun too. I think we should improve of half a second if we want to fight for first position". Though the hard-charging Dutchman had serious problems with the handling of his car, he was still able to put down quickest lap times from start to finish. "I had serious car handling problems all weekend and my car was terrible to drive during the first laps. Lucky for me, fellow Dutchman Charles Zwolsman spun off the track in the final stage of the race, handling me al least one championship point to take home". Robert, Bos, was one of the few drivers to crack the limit of 1:28.000 in the race, by clocking a fastest time of 1:27.840.
RACE 1: Robert Doornbos position 10 (qualified 16th)
Briscoe, Premat, Spengler, Winkelhock, Klien, Carroll, Zwolsmann, Rosberg, Zuber, Doornbos, Kubica, Glock, Auinger,,--29 Parente
RACE 2: Robert Doornbos position 8 (qualified 11th) - 1 point
Briscoe, Premat, Rosberg, Pla, Klien,Winkelhock, Spengler, Doornbos, Glock, Lapierre, Auinger,--28 Lietz..
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Mercedes AI-Ring summary
Next article Laguna Seca race report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Rob Austin
Austin tops BTCC pre-season test with new Alfa Romeo
BTCC
BTCC
Austin tops BTCC pre-season test with new Alfa Romeo
Brands Hatch BTCC: Austin wins final race, Sutton third
BTCC
BTCC
Brands Hatch GP
Brands Hatch BTCC: Austin wins final race, Sutton third
Ingram, Austin keep BTCC seats for 2017
BTCC
BTCC
Ingram, Austin keep BTCC seats for 2017
Latest news
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
50 min
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 h
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe