Duerksen says he had pace to win Monza Feature Race after ‘enjoyable’ run to P5

Joshua Duerksen was “extremely happy” with how his and AIX Racing’s Monza weekend went after he finished fifth in the Feature Race, although he believes the win was on if more things had gone in their favour.

The Paraguayan driver qualified 11th on Friday, narrowly losing out on a place in the top 10 to Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi by 0.008s.

But he showed tremendous pace in both races, finishing third in the Sprint before taking the chequered flag in P5 on Sunday.

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Speaking at the end of the weekend, the AIX driver was left to reflect on his and his team’s strong performance.

“I’m extremely happy with the result, extremely happy with the pace we had,” said Duerksen. “The car was really quick all weekend so we knew we could fight for good points, for good positions.

“In quali, we got a bit unlucky with the Red Flags but in the Sprint Race I could recover. Today we had the pace to win, I just made a few too many mistakes and we had a bit of bad luck with the Safety Car.

“I should have pitted one lap later and then it would have been perfect, then I think we could have fought for the win. The pace was very good, I could make a really good recovery, so I’m extremely happy. The car is improving, team is improving, this is the good news.

“We will keep fighting, keep pushing to make this again in Baku but just really thankful to God, to the team, my family and sponsors for supporting me all the time.”

Duerksen’s top speed was a big topic on the radio during the Feature with Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí overheard describing it as “insane”.

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Data shows that the rookie was second-fastest across the start/finish line at 283.3 KM/H behind Jak Crawford at 283.9 KM/H, and Duerksen later lauded his AIX team for nailing their setup.

“Yeah, for sure,” said Duerksen when asked whether straight line speed was a key focus for them. “In Monza, the most important thing is to go fast on the straights.

“I think the team got a really good setup which of course allowed me to be able to follow the guys and overtake them in the corners, in the chicanes. The car was spot on.”

Continuing to talk through the race, Duerksen called Sunday’s event the “most enjoyable” of the year, given how much wheel-to-wheel action he and his rivals had across the 30 laps.

But despite not being to pick his favourite overtake from the two days of racing, what he does know for sure is that he and AIX have a car that can compete towards the front of the field.

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He is hopeful they can carry that form to Baku, a street circuit that shares similar characteristics to Monza with the long straights. However, Duerksen believes they will have to adapt their setup a little bit for Round 11.

“Baku will be a bit more of a compromise to find the right balance on the car,” he added. “You have to find the right amount of downforce and top speed because you have a really long straight in Baku but many corners.

“You have both slow speed and medium speed so it will be really important to find a good balance there so I hope we can continue with this pace.”