Following a busy week back in his native Canada – attending his first Grand Prix as an official reserve driver for Marussia Virgin Racing, Robert Wickens returns to the 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 Series this weekend with the fifth round of the season hosted at Germany’s Nürburgring Circuit, Saturday 18th – Sunday 19th June.
A second-place podium finish last time out on the streets of Monaco boosted the 22-year-old from Toronto from third to second in the Driver Standings, Wickens currently sitting just one point behind his Carlin team-mate, France’s Jean-Eric Vergne. Robert’s fourth podium of the year, a tally which includes a second round victory at Spa-Francorchamps, proved very welcome after a disappointing no-score in Monza’s third-round outing earlier in May due to a technical failure and accident.
With the season approaching the half-way marker in Germany, Wickens is focused on a return to the top step of the podium, confident that the pace he has demonstrated through the first four rounds in his Marussia Motors-backed entry will continue to keep him in the title fight. The 4.56km, 12-turn Nürburgring Circuit is one of the few remaining European tracks where Robert has yet to break the top-three, a fact he’s hoping to rectify this weekend.
“Of all the tracks I’ve competed at in Europe it’s only the Nürburgring in Germany and Donington Park in England where the podium’s eluded me,” stated Wickens candidly. “Hopefully we can change that now as we get back into a regular race weekend after Monza, which ran with the World Touring Car Championship, and Monaco which was obviously with F1. We’re back to being the headline event which is great but more importantly I think the Nürburgring should really suit us.
“We’ve been strong everywhere this season and I’m not expecting any surprises this weekend. That said, we’re always looking to improve and there’s definitely been times already when we’ve hurt our chances of successes. Monza was obviously a bad weekend for us despite our pace. We have to start taking advantage of our ability to be in a place to win every race. The competition at this level is tight but we’re up there every weekend and a mistake-free race meeting will reap its own rewards!”
Round 5 of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series starts with Race 1 held at 1pm CET on Saturday 18th followed by Race 2 at 9:35am CET on Sunday 19th June 2011.
2011 FR3.5 Series Top-5 Driver Standings (R4/9): 1st – Vergne (FRA) 90pts, 2nd – WICKENS (CAN) 89pts, 3rd – Rossi (USA) 73pts, 4th – Costa (ESP) 64pts, 5th – Korjus (EST) 62pts - www.worldseriesbyrenault.com
