Swiss racing driver Fabio Scherer got his first taste of the car he will race during the 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship season after completing a two-day test in the south of France today (Thursday).
The talented 19-year-old was confirmed as one of the drivers that will race for the newly-formed Sauber Junior Team this season.
The exciting partnership connects Fabio with Sauber Motorsport, the Swiss organisation that has been competing in Formula 1 for more than 25 years and currently runs the Alfa Romeo Racing team in motorsport’s top category.
At the first of three official pre-season tests, Fabio linked up with the Sauber Junior Team by Charouz engineers to complete two days of running at the 5.84km Le Castellet Circuit – the home of Formula 1’s French Grand Prix.
The Stobag-supported driver successfully completed 135 laps on Wednesday and Thursday, recording 788 kilometres of vital running in preparation for the opening F3 races of the season at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain on 10-12 May.
« This is an exciting year for me so it was fantastic to get behind the wheel of a racing car for the first time since November in Abu Dhabi, » Fabio said.
« I really enjoyed the experience driving the new F3 car and it was great to start working with my new team at the race track. They are a good bunch of guys and the relationship is already strong. That’s very important for the year ahead. »
Fabio managed to complete an extensive programme of performance and race runs that was set by his team during the test, although he did lose some track time with a throttle problem on the second day.
« The technical issue compromised my performance run this afternoon but I still managed to set a best lap time of 1m 50.1s which shows there is a lot of potential in what we have and the direction we’re heading, » he explained.
« I’m pleased with that because the F3 field is very competitive and close. This performance gives us a solid platform to build on at the next couple of tests. »
Fabio will return to official F3 testing action at the Circuit de Catalunya, Spain on 9-10 April, before the final pre-season familiarisation sessions takes place at the Hungaroring in Hungary on 17-18 April.
Press release Fabio Scherer
]]>
