Cordeel ‘sad’ to miss out on a maiden podium on the last lap of the Jeddah Feature Race

Amaury Cordeel was disappointed to miss out on a spot on the podium at this weekend’s Jeddah Feature Race. The Belgian driver started the final lap in third but lost out in a drag race to the line to Dennis Hauger and Jak Crawford, leaving him to cross the line in P5.

The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver started the day in 20th but after employing the Prime-Option strategy he was able to have a long first stint on the medium tyres.

With the supersoft runners having pitted and dropped down the order, the Safety Car was called upon on Lap 16 of 28 after MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto spun into a stoppage at Turn 1.

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Cordeel was able to pit for the supersofts and briefly led the race after overtaking Juan Manuel Correa a few laps after the restart.

Enzo Fittipaldi and Kush Maini then overtook the Hitech driver, leaving him third heading into the final stages of proceedings.

However, on the final lap, he came under attack from both Crawford and Hauger and despite his best defence, he was forced to settle for fifth – missing out on a podium by 0.127s.

“It was a great race,” reflected Cordeel. “The strategy paid off, but it was a long race on the supersofts in the end. I think I had to do 11 laps on the supersofts which is quite a long time.

“At one point I was leading but I had to save some tyres at the end to get the best result possible. In the end I just didn't have the tyres anymore. I dropped to P3, and the whole time I was trying to keep up in the DRS with Kush.

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“But just the last lap it wasn’t enough, and I lost the DRS and got taken in the last corner by Dennis and Crawford. So, actually I’m a bit sad to lose the podium in the last corner.

“But I think we were the only ones that were on that strategy, and it paid off. So, a great race and looking forward to Melbourne.”

Looking at the positives, Cordeel admitted that he did not expect to secure a top five finish given that he had started on the back row of the grid.

“Starting P20, you are never expecting to finish in the top five,” Cordeel admitted. “But like I said the strategy paid off. I was able to stay on the supersofts for quite a long time and I think that was the strong point to finish P5.”

Cordeel’s fifth-place finish earns him 10 points and adds to Hitech’s growing tally of 38. It comes after his teammate Paul Aron had scored the team’s first 28 points of the season through the first three races.

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The Estonian driver has also finished on the podium at the Sakhir Feature Race and the Jeddah Sprint. Cordeel was open in his admission that his teammates success has a rookie has forced him to up his game.

“Paul is a quick driver,” acknowledged Cordeel. “He finished P3 in F3, so he is a really quick driver. He is adapting to F2 really fast, so I have to step up my game a bit. So, let's see in Melbourne how close we are.”