Aussie racer Thomas Maxwell was left wondering what might have been, after coming close to another points finish at the Formula Renault Eurocup double-header at The Red Bull Ring.

Thomas Maxwell, from Darwin in the Northern Territory, showed top-10 pace in practice, but was left feeling a little disappointed after a muted qualifying session, where the 19-year-old posted the 13th and 15th fastest times around the 2.6-mile Austrian circuit.  The Tech 1 Racing driver would put in a stellar showing in both races, being in contention for a top-10 finish in rounds 14 and 15 of the season.

In race one, Thomas Maxwell stayed out of trouble in the midfield, picking off several drivers as he moved up to 11th position before losing momentum behind a competitor with damage. Unable to pass, with a train of cars forming behind, the championship rookie was shuffled down to 15th in the very last corners of the race.  Although several drivers were subsequently penalised for overtaking Thomas Maxwell under a yellow flag, unfortunately their penalties would be applied in race two rather than impacting the results of the first race.  

Race two showed more promise, with Maxwell having a good start from 15th to be running in 10th position.  The Andy Priaulx Sports Management driver, who has a best finish of 5th place at Monza, had good pace and began challenging for ninth position, however his race was ended with four laps to go when another competitor made contact with him at turn three.

“I feel that we just missed the window with the tyre in qualifying and that was our weak point of our weekend,” Thomas explained, “We felt there was more to come and it unfortunately put us in a more vulnerable position for the race. I felt that I was competitive in the first race, stayed out of trouble and it was going well until we got held up behind another car which was carrying a bit of damage. Unfortunately we ended up being pushed around a bit as a queue of cars formed behind, which ultimately lost us positions.”

“In race two we made some changes to the car which worked well. I was feeling more confident and a really strong result was on the cards before our race ended prematurely through no fault of our own.”

It was a disappointing way for the weekend to end for the talented racer, but Maxwell can take a lot of confidence now heading into the next round when the Formula Renault Eurocup Championship heads to Circuit  Paul Ricard at the end of August.

 

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