More progress for Marinescu on challenging Rockingham weekend
Romanian driver Alexandra Marinescu enjoyed another weekend packed with progress as the F4 British Championship headed to Rockingham for the eighth round of the year.
Having made good progress throughout her debut meeting at Snetterton last month, the team was hopeful that Alexandra would continue to close the gap to the drivers ahead during the Rockingham weekend, although her job was made more difficult by poor weather conditions that hit the Northamptonshire circuit on the first day of the two-day meeting.
Rain during qualifying, the first time Alexandra had sampled the F4 in wet conditions, meant she found herself off the pace at the back of the grid, and even worse conditions in the opening race later on Saturday meant she had to settle for 16th place – the main aim having been to keep the car on track and gain as much knowledge as possible for the future.
Race two on Sunday would be held in more favourable conditions, with Alexandra lapping three tenths of a second quicker than she had done during Friday practice and finishing within 30 seconds of the race winner – less than half the margin that there had been after the wet weekend opener.
Although unable to match that 14th place finish in race three, Alexandra showed her continued improvement by posting her quickest lap time of the weekend en-route to 19th spot, leaving her happy with the way the weekend had panned out.
“The weekend went pretty well overall,” she reflected. “Considering that qualifying and race one was the first time I had driven the car in the wet, I think it went better than expected and I was happy to keep the car on the track in difficult conditions.
“The second race was quite good because I finished 14th, and while I was a bit lucky to get that high up, I improved my lap time and got closer to the pace. Even though we had a small problem with the car in race three, I improved my best lap time again and think I’ve made more good progress across the weekend.
“It’s clear to see that I need more time in the car and more experience, but I am slowly catching up to the pace of the other drivers on the grid and I’m looking to bringing that gap down a bit further when we get to Silverstone.”
Team boss Gwyn Richardson declared himself pleased with the progress Alexandra had made in his second race weekend, particularly taking into account the conditions on track.
“As at Snetterton on her debut, Alexandra has done a good job this weekend and we are pleased with the progress she has made,” he said. “It would have been easy for her to make a mistake and put the car into the gravel on Saturday when the circuit was wet but she drove well on what was her first taste of the car in those kind of conditions.
“When the circuit was then dry for the second and third races, she made good progress, and the fact that she continued to get quicker and posted her best lap of the weekend in race three is an indication that she is moving in the right direction.
“She’s been able to learn a lot this weekend and hopefully the progress she has made at Rockingham will continue during the next event at Silverstone in a few weeks time.”