Difficult weekend for Sagrera in Zandvoort

After the Dutch event, Palou Motorsport and the driver are working hard to continue evolving in this championship and achieve the positions they both deserve.

Javier Sagrera and Palou Motorsport concluded the first part of the Eurocup-3 championship at the Dutch circuit of Zandvoort. They reach the midpoint of the season with a lot of work done and yet to be done, having gathered various experiences in this category where they embarked on a completely new adventure together. From experiencing the thrill of stepping onto the podium twice, to working day and night to find the right setups for each track.

Last weekend in Zandvoort, they arrived after a month of work at the Catalan team's headquarters, hoping to be higher up the grid. However, Zandvoort is one of the most challenging tracks on the calendar, and they couldn't find all the pace they expected from the car. It is worth noting that this team, led by the IndyCar driver Álex Palou, is newly created and still evolving in many aspects. In the Netherlands, some teams with extensive experience in various championships and drivers forged in higher categories found an extra edge in their pace. Nonetheless, Javier gave his all to extract the most from his car and secure some points.

"It was a weekend where we had many problems finding the pace and being competitive. We started well on Friday in the first session, but then it was tough for us to make progress. We tried many things, but we couldn't find the solution to the significant lack of pace. In the first qualifying, I put in all my efforts, but the car couldn't deliver more, and I couldn't qualify in a better position than tenth. Race 1 was in wet conditions, something I was looking forward to because, as I didn't have pace in the dry, I thought there might be an opportunity in the wet. I had a good start, gained six positions, and moved up to fourth from tenth. The race was heavily influenced by safety cars; there were 4, and I couldn't get many laps in. The laps I did were a bit better, but we still didn't have the necessary pace to reach the podium, and I finished sixth, which eventually became fifth due to the penalty of the driver who was ahead of me. On Sunday, in the second qualifying, we tried many changes in the car to see if we could improve. In that session, I took a lot of risks to find a good lap, which placed me fifth, but I went off, hit the wall, and the session ended for me. In the race, I started sixth because my lap was invalidated due to going off track, and I crossed the finish line in eighth. That was the pace we had, it couldn't go any faster, and I held onto this position with everything I had. It was the strangest weekend of the season because we were far from the top, which is not usual. Now we are working with the team, analyzing what happened, and looking forward to organizing everything well during this long summer break so that Zandvoort's situation won't happen again," explains the driver.

The Eurocup does not return until September 22-23 at the Spanish track of Jerez.