Rodin Motorsport confident true potential will be on show from Imola

Rodin Motorsport Team Manager Sam Waple says all three of his drivers have taken strides following the in-season test in Barcelona, giving him plenty of confidence heading into the European portion of the calendar.

Rodin are one of two teams – alongside Van Amersfoort Racing – that are yet to score points following the opening two rounds in Sakhir and Melbourne.

But they showed strong improvements in the Barcelona in-season test, with each of their drivers revealing afterwards how satisfied they were with the three days of work.

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Waple shared a similar sentiment to the trio but was also quick to point out that they had the pace in the opening two rounds, though were unable to capitalise on it.

“It's been fine,” said Waple reflecting on the start of the season. “We feel like there was much more performance to be had and we haven't quite shown our true potential yet.

“We had a strong car in Bahrain in the first race weekend but in Qualifying, we didn't quite put it together and show the true potential there. So of course, once you're out of Qualifying in F3 you are at the mercy of driving near the back for the rest of the weekend, so that was a real shame.

“Going into Melbourne we had an okay Free Practice. Moving into Qualifying and Joseph Loake was on a really good lap and crashed at the end of Qualifying. So, again we didn't show his potential, but his race pace was excellent, especially in race one.

“In race two he had an accident on Lap 1 and that was the end of his weekend. So again, it's kind of a story of what could have been, so we are sort of keeping our chins up, but we did a really good test in Barcelona, and we were really happy with how that went.”

Explaining more about the test, Waple clarified that while it was good they improved their performance, getting Loake, Callum Voisin and Piotr Wisnicki, who he feels were lacking track time coming into the season, more mileage was the main takeaway from the three days.

“Ultimately the biggest change that we are seeing is that my drivers are fairly undertested,” he explained. “They didn't get to do a lot of testing that a lot of drivers on the grid have done. They are obviously first year drivers, in particular Callum and Joseph, Piotr had only done half a year, so they are very low on experience and mileage in the car.

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“I think that as the year has progressed, they have really started to understand what this car takes to be fast and how to drive it. I think the midseason test in Barcelona allowed them to experiment, drive a decent amount of mileage and really understand how to get the most out of this car.

“I think that has been almost the biggest change going into the European season. I think it's given Joseph a lot of confidence about what he needs to do, and certainly the same with the other two.

“Callum has just continued to get faster and faster, and I think coming out of Barcelona he understands what he needs to do now in Qualifying in particular, and Piotr is always such a pleasure to have around in the team.

“He works super well with his engineer and again just having some more time to understand what we want him to do and how to adapt himself into what the car needs, and that's made the big difference for them, and I think that they are all very positive going into the next few races.”

Waple also explained how as a team they had managed to help their drivers navigate their lack of running in F3 cars at the start the season, revealing that they gave them as much information as they could heading into each race weekend to ease their transition.

He also explained how setting “realistic goals” for them, such as trying to make it into the top 12 in Qualifying has been key even though they have not quite achieved that so far this year.

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Heading to Europe though, Waple says that those goals will remain the same, especially after an improved showing in Barcelona. Along with that, he also has his eyes set on scoring points at every round from Imola to the season-ending weekend in Monza.

“We are very confident especially after the Barcelona test,” continued Waple when asked about their expectations going forward. “The target for us is planted in making sure that we are in the top 12 in Qualifying and that sets you up for the weekend.

“I think that is a good and realistic target for our guys and from what we saw in the test and the amount of work that everyone is putting in, I can't see any reason why that shouldn't be achievable.

“You always need a bit of luck in F3, there are 30 cars, and you can easily get out of position and have problems that stop you reaching your target. But from a team perspective and from outside there is no reason why we can't realistically go and do that. It remains unchanged and just to get points at every weekend and try and push ourselves up the order.”