Goethe proud of debut points but targeting even more in Feature Race

30 July 2022

Oliver Goethe has been making an impact on his maiden FIA Formula 3 weekend, starting the Sprint Race from reverse grid pole and securing a points finish on a tough day. Rain falling prior to the start of the Sprint made things tricky for every driver on the grid, but Goethe especially having had no laps in wet conditions prior to the start.

The Monégasque dropped down the order in the early running as familiar names showed their experience, but rebounded and steadied the ship to cross the line in P8,capping of an impressive first race in the Championship.

“The conditions were really difficult,” he reflected afterwards. “Obviously I’ve never driven this car in the wet and never driven here in the wet. The first few laps were really tricky to get up to speed and to get confidence and experience in the wet. I struggled a lot in the first laps, then towards the mid-race the pace started to get quite good. I was keeping up with the people around me which allowed me to get P8 in the end which is not too bad.”

Of course, expectations were heightened having been on pole by virtue of his P12 Qualifying position. A rolling start made judging the conditions even tougher arriving into Turn 1 at racing speeds but it all counted towards building up a bank of experience for the future.

Though he would have liked to finish further up inside the top 10, Goethe said he was very proud to have secured a points finish but was hoping for dry conditions to better display his pace during the Budapest weekend.

He has so far been the lead Campos driver in the dry, despite his teammates’ experience advantage over him.

“Starting from first I was obviously hoping for a better result but it’s a great start and I’m confident for tomorrow.

“I’m definitely proud of scoring points on debut. If it was dry then maybe it could’ve been a few more points but I did the best I could. In the end, it’s still a good result.”

Should the race stay dry on Sunday, Goethe is brimming with confidence that he can deliver yet more speed in the race and continue to impress around the Hungaroring.

After getting his eye in following the initial stages of the Sprint, the Campos man is targeting another solid drive and another points finish to cap off his maiden weekend.

“I think I can definitely do well in the Feature Race. If it’s dry then the pace this year in EuroFormula has been good. I’m still building confidence in the dry. I’ve only had Free Practice and Qualifying in the dry so there’s still more pace to come from me. Doing consecutive laps in the race the pace could get really good towards the end and something good can happen at the end.”