Second F3 round a “very encouraging experience,” for Chovet

It is not the first time that a rookie has stepped up to Formula 3 at short notice, but in normal circumstances they’d enjoy a couple of weeks’ worth of debriefing and analysing after their first weekend. With Rounds 7 and 8 back-to-back, Pierre-Louis Chovet wasn’t afforded that luxury, and yet, he still managed to take his first points in the Championship with Hitech Grand Prix.

Chovet finished seventh on track in Race 2 – from P18 on the grid - and was later promoted to P6 after podium finisher Liam Lawson was handed a time penalty. This was a result of plenty of hard work from the French driver, who was delighted to see it pay off.

“I had a good start,” Chovet began. “My pace was good from the beginning and I took advantage of the Virtual Safety Car restart to close the gap with the leading group. Then, I overtook several cars in the second part of the race to finish P7, only 0.2s off (Alex) Peroni.

“The goal of the first weekend in Spa was to understand the car and the championship processes, while the target in Monza was to perform and catch the top ten. Starting from 18th for Race 2, P7 on the track and points to the team was the best that we could do this weekend, and a very encouraging experience.”

The Frenchman will not take part in the season finale in Mugello due to his Formula Regional commitments, but he will depart with a whole heap of experience, confidence and lessons learned. Given his performances in Monza, one would hope they’ve not seen the last of Chovet.

“I jumped in a plane for the UK on Monday right before the Spa event,” he recalled. “I had to learn everything in four days, which was a real challenge. Thank you to the Hitech team who have helped me to be able to prepare for both rounds. The tight time scale was an additional motivation for me.

“I learned a lot. I learned how a top team is working in this championship and I discovered a great car with huge potential. I now understand much better the car, the tyres and how to perform with this package.”