Clerot reflects on ‘really special’ Madrid weekend after claiming maiden victory

Pedro Clerot was pleased to bring a very “successful season” to a close with a special performance in Madrid – the Brazilian claiming his maiden Formula 3 victory in Feature Race 1.

The Rodin Motorsport driver was impressive at the Madring circuit, missing out on pole position by 0.012s in Qualifying 1 on Friday.

Clerot was then in the fight for pole on his final lap in Qualifying 2 but hit the barrier at the last corner and settled for third place.

The Brazilian driver then made a great start from P2 in Feature Race 1 to take the lead and the victory before adding another podium to his weekend tally with a P3 in Sunday’s race.

Speaking on his way out of the paddock with his two trophies in hand, Clerot reflected on a strong few days in the Spanish capital.

“It was a really special, really special weekend,” he said. “It is really good to finally show what we had, maybe I'd say the whole year in terms of pace.

“Obviously, I'm not going to say luck was on our side, we did the work, we put a lot there in qualifying and we had a very good start yesterday.

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“We controlled the race, had really good pace, and the car was incredible. The team did an amazing job, obviously driving was on point as well this weekend, so I’m really happy to put a very strong weekend to end the year.”

Speaking more about Feature Race 2, Clerot spoke about his mindset when out on track, admitted a move on Ugo Ugochukwu was never really on, but not for a lack of effort on his part.

“It's very difficult to overtake around here,” he said. “Obviously I was thinking more about the points as well. We're fighting for the team's championship as well, so just took it a little bit more careful today.

“But I didn't really have the opportunity to try to go for the overtake with Ugo. I know he was risking a bit more than me by fighting the championship.

“But anyway it’s another podium, another 15 points in the bag, we showed really good pace on such a difficult track like this, and to be this competitive is very nice, so I'm very happy.”

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Clerot’s strong weekend saw him end the season sixth in the Drivers' Championship, and while he is happy with the result, he does not feel it properly represents his and Rodin’s performance levels.

“P6 in the championship maybe doesn't reflect what I think we had,” said the Brazilian. “Nut anyway, five podiums this year is very special.

“It's a very successful rookie season, some coulda, woulda, shouldas out there, but I’m just very happy to end the season like this.”