‘One of the most fun races’ – Clerot delighted with comeback drive to P8 in Melbourne Feature

Pedro Clerot was delighted together with his and Rodin Motorsport’s efforts in Melbourne after he got here by means of the sphere to attain his first FIA Formula 3 factors in Sunday’s Feature Race.

The Brazilian driver’s weekend received off to a pleasant begin in Free Practice when he was seventh quickest, however a brake situation in Qualifying left him down the order in P19.

After ending 14th within the shortened Sprint, Clerot made up extra floor within the Feature Race, taking the chequered flag in P8, and giving him his first 4 factors in F3.

“It was a fun race,” mentioned Clerot. “I knew we had very good pace, unfortunately we had a couple of issues in Qualifying that put us on the back foot for the races. I don’t think our time was really representative, we had a really good Free Practice, we were P7.

“Starting from P19 in the Sprint we finished P14 with good pace in those few laps. Today in the Feature I knew that if we had a proper race we could come forward. I think we did a very good job, I think for my first race managing the degradation was quite good.

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“I think I dealt with everything quite maturely and I was very happy to end up in the points. It was a very good race, it was very fun. I told my engineer it was one of the most fun races I’ve had in my career, so I’m very happy.”

When requested how he was in a position to handle every part, from tyre degradation to creating overtakes, Clerot revealed he had some assist from AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides – who completed seventh – in the course of the race.

“It was quite nice because yesterday we had a little bit of a taste for today,” he mentioned. “It wasn’t obviously a lot because we were starting to have degradation and then we had the Red Flag.

“I didn’t really know what to expect today, but I think I dealt with everything quite maturely. We had a good opening lap and then I knew once we settled the pace I could come forward.

“Brad and I were actually helping each other out to go forward. So I’m very, very happy. I think as a first weekend, I learned a lot.”

Speaking additional about what he discovered, Clerot mentioned it was not simply concerning the racing aspect of issues, but additionally all of the methods that he had by no means needed to handle in earlier classes.

“I got a lot of grips with the car but also with everything that goes on within the race,” he defined. “So like with DRS, with the Virtual Safety Car, the Safety Car, with everything that we have to do.

“It’s a little bit more complicated than FREC for sure, but I’m just very happy that we can end up the weekend with some good points.”

Lastly, Clerot paid tribute to Rodin. It is the 19-year-old’s first season racing with the group, and after a powerful winter of preparation, he’s pleased with how their first weekend collectively went, however is aware of they’ve much more they’ll present.

“We had a good programme of testing together,” he mentioned. “We knew that we were going to do some good work together, but coming into the weekend, I was not expecting much.

“I was just trying to focus on my job and I think that we as a team had a really good package. Like I said, it was a shame we couldn’t really put it together in qualifying. We had a brake issue, but I am really, really happy to be working with the team.

“They are a wonderful group of people to work with. My engineer and my coach, we are doing really good, and to be fair, I have felt quite comfortable with the team since day one.

“I’m just very happy that in the first weekend, we can already put the car up there and show that we have potential.

“We’re P8 in the championship. I know there’s a long way to go, but to start like this is always really good. It just gives me more confidence that once we put qualifying in there, we will be able to fight for top positions and score points every weekend.”