Re-invigorated after a frustrating time at the Hungaroring, Alex Quinn, Frank Bird and Patrik Pasma made the trip to the 2.8-mile Catalan circuit – home of the Spanish Grand Prix – eager to get back amongst the fight at the sharp end of the grid.
Quinn rounded out his three-race stint with the Banbury squad in fine style, qualifying fifth and then claiming his second podium of the campaign, and with it the Rookie victory.
Though he couldn’t add to his points tally on Sunday, the British ace has certainly acquitted himself well with limited testing and, remarkably, now leads Arden’s quartet in the championship.
Patrik Pasma faced an uphill task after being forced to miss testing on Friday due to exams, but recovered lost ground well to add to his points tally in the opener.
It proved to be a frustrating double-header for Frank Bird, but both Bird and Pasma will come back out fighting at Hockenheim, Germany next weekend [05-06 October], re-united with Sebastian Fernandez.
Ben Salter, Arden Formula Renault Team Manager said:
“I think overall we can consider Barcelona to be a positive weekend for the team. We struggled a little during practice on Friday, but very much turned it around overnight ahead of qualifying.
“There’s clearly pace in the car, we spent the weekend mixing it amongst the front-runners and with some silverware to take back home to Banbury.
“There’s some frustration about the results on Sunday, but I think if we can string that same level of performance together across an entire weekend, we’ll be in very strong shape for the last two events of the season.
“Lastly, a word on Alex and the job he’s done. Having stepped into the seat at such short notice and with no testing, he’s gone above and beyond our expectations, so we’re very pleased.
“Hockenheim next, and hopefully another good points haul for the team as we keep pushing to end the season on a high!”
Patrik Pasma (#31) said:
“I knew it was going to be a pretty difficult weekend for me because of missing the free practice sessions on Friday with exams and going straight into qualifying on Saturday.
“I still managed to get some points. The results were not what we wanted, but we know we can do a lot better and Hockenheim will be a good track for us.”
Frank Bird (#32) said:
“It wasn’t a great weekend in Barcelona. We were pretty quick in first practice but then couldn’t really get near to that pace again.
“I had a technical issue on the grid for Race 1 which ruined the race; Race 2 again wasn’t the best either.
“Thanks to all the team at Arden Motorsport, my sponsors and everybody else involved, hopefully we’ll have a better one at Hockenheim!”
Alex Quinn (#33) said:
“Overall, it was a positive weekend for me. We had to work hard after practice and we did just that by bouncing back in qualifying on Saturday to grab P5 on the grid and a podium in the race.
“We showed our pace again on Sunday, even with some complications in qualifying I managed to take fourth. The final race was disappointing but all in all I’m extremely happy and grateful to Arden and in particular Garry Horner for giving me this opportunity.”