Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen – F1 Esports Series Pro Championship Event 2 review

   
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN Esports saw its efforts being rewarded with points at the end of a rather successful Event Two of the F1 Esports Series Pro Championship.

Drivers Nico Longuet, Dani Bereznay, and Tomek Poradzisz lined up in the newly unveiled Sauber Esports Arena, the brand-new home of the team’s Esports activities, for the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds of the 2022 championship.

Round Four, in Austria, saw Frenchman Longuet easily nailing qualifying and lining up in P6 on the grid, maintaining the great pace showed during the race, in which he ended in fifth place. Unfortunately, Dani Bereznay couldn’t go past Q1, and his misfortunes continued in the race, in which he ended in P17 after a penalty.

Slightly different results followed for both drivers in Round Five, at the iconic Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, with Longuet not managing to maximise his performances but still bringing home vital points for the team.

Round Six saw a line-up change, with young Pole Poradzisz replacing Bereznay. Despite a difficult qualifying session, Tomek fought his way up the grid, having already overtaken nine cars in the opening lap and ultimately grabbing his first ever point with a tenth place finish, and also being awarded Driver of the Day. Some great strategy calls during a wet race and some mega overtakes took Nico Longuet to fifth place at the chequered flag.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN Esports reaches the halfway point of the 2022 season in sixth place in the Constructors standings with 35 points. The team will return to racing on 2-4 November for Rounds Seven, Eight and Nine in Monza, Mexico, and Austin.




Round Four: Austria
Nico Longuet (car number 40): 5th
Dani Bereznay (car number 15): 17th

Round Five: Belgium
Nico Longuet (car number 40): 8th
Dani Bereznay (car number 15):14th

Round Six: The Netherlands
Nico Longuet (car number 40): 5th
Tomek Poradzisz (car number 37): 10th

Cameron Cowell, Team Principal: “Event Two marked a step in the right direction for our team. Competing from the brand-new Sauber Esports Arena, we showed our best performances to date, bringing home more points which moved us up to P6 in the Constructors standings.

I am proud of Tomek, who showed great maturity to go from 20th to 10th place in a wet race, which was only his second one in the series. He managed to grab his first points ever – as well as being awarded Driver of the Day.

Over the three days of competition, Nico showed his class in qualifying as he hit Q3 in every race, as well as consistently finishing in points. Mixed fortunes for Dani, who was just a little bit off the pace at times but showed promise with his race pace. I know that he will be back fighting in Event Three to show all his potential.”

Nico Longuet: “Qualifying in Event Two was extremely good for me, having lined up sixth, fifth and third on the grid. Austria was a really intense race, with many overtakes, defending, and extremely aggressive strategy calls from our side and it almost worked out, as I finished in P5.

In Spa, I suffered the undercut because we didn’t pit at the right moment and from then onwards, I was just stuck in a DRS train and finished eighth. In Zandvoort, the race plan was looking extremely good to challenge for the win, but a Turn One incident put me in 12th place and from then on it became a recovery drive, managing to cross the finish line in fifth place.

Congratulation to Tomek for the massive job in getting points from starting P20, that was very good for the team standings. Event Three is now coming up very fast and we have a lot of work to do in a little amount of time, to improve even more and grab more points.”

Dani Bereznay: “Austria was quite average from my side, a little mistake didn’t let me go past Q1 in qualifying and going wide at the start just made my race more difficult, ultimately finishing 17th due to a penalty. Spa has always been one of my best tracks, so logically I really hoped for a great performance from myself.

I made it through Q2, but then again I had a difficult race and finished 14th because of another penalty. I am working really hard behind the scenes to improve myself in the live qualifying sessions. It’s nice to walk away with some progress, but still not as big of a progress as I wanted, so virtual helmet visors down and sweat, sweat, sweat for more performance on the rest of the season. Let’s go!”

Tomek Poradzisz: “I was never 100% comfortable driving in Zandvoort, but I always found good pace around the track in the past. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to show it this time with a really bad qualifying performance – finishing last in Q1.

I thought all hope for a good performance was lost, but the race turned out to be a crazy one, and with great strategy decisions in the changing conditions I sneaked my way into the Top 10 and my first points finish, also walking away with a Driver of the Day award.

I am absolutely buzzing. It might be just a single point, but it’s what I needed to get my season on track and to break that mental barrier of having zero points next to my name. I’m heading into Event Three with great motivation to do even better and bring more good points for the team, as Top Five in the Constructors Championship is still very much achievable.”

Will Ponissi, photo F1 Esports and Sauber
       

 
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