Bangkok--9 Jul--sandystuvik.com
Sandy Nicholas Stuvik proved his improved form by constantly running in the top ten for the early practice sessions at Germany’s Oschersleben Circuit. Leading up to the weekend’s third round of the 2012 Formula Renault 2.0 series championship the Thai racer was sixth fastest in the first free practice and 9th fastest in the second out of the 28 cars on the grid. Then on Friday afternoon’s first qualifying run he secured a strong 7th starting position and an 8th place for the second race. The starting position for the 3rd race will be determined by the finishing position in the first race.
Saturday morning however brought a heavy rain just before the start of the Formula Renault first race, but Sandy got off to a good start and maintained his position in the field until mid-race, when pushing for an overtaking maneuver he went too fast into turn 1 and instead lost a position. He still kept pushing and setting faster times and in the end took a rain drenched checkered flag in 8th place.
The second race for the weekend started with a nice sunny and dry circuit, but the dark rain clouds were circling the track. The 28 cars on the Formula Renault 2.0 grid all got off to a good start and Sandy had a very good start, making up 2 positions in the first corner, moving him up to 6th. On the second lap he challenged for fifth, but had to settle back into sixth place.
Sandy continued to push hard in the first half of the race, knowing his car was set up for the initial launch. By mid race, the tire temperatures started going too high and he had to slow down a little to save on his tires. In the process he got into a huge fight for position with Jeroen Slaghekke and in the end lost a position to the Dutch driver. Still Sandy maintained his position and eventually finished the race in a season best 7th position.
17 year old Sandy Nicholas Stuvik continued showing his strong form with a 6th place finish in the Oschersleben’s third race Sunday morning. Starting from 8th place on the grid the Thai driver was off with a good start and again an early aggressive strategy. By lap 2 he was up to 6th place and started pulling away from the cars behind. By mid race he started catching back up to the fourth and fifth placed cars and mounted a strong challenge over the last 5 laps reeling the front cars back in, and in the end took the checkered flag a mere 0,5 second behind the 5th placed car.
Team Interwetten.com Junior Team manager Michael Schneider was content with the season best sixth place finish for the young Thai racer, although he felt Sandy would have it in him to aim for top 5 finishes now. Sandy Stuvik now ranks 8th in the 2012 Formula Renault Northern European Championship with 74 points.
Sandy Nicholas Stuvik races for the Royal Automobile Association of Thailand and is sponsored by The Pizza Company, Singha Corporation, Dacon Inspection Services and Sports Authority of Thailand.
Website: www.sandystuvik.com
Formula Renault Northern European Cup 2012 schedule http://www.necup.com/
Events:
19/22 April Hockenheim- Germany
21/23 June Nurburgring- Germany
5/8 July Oschersleben- Germany
2/5 August Assen - Netherland
23/26 August Red Bull A1 Ring- Austria
30 August - 2 September Most- Czech Republic
20/23 September Zandvoort- Netherland
11 /14 October Spa — Francorchamps - Belgium