Delétraz: “Starting ahead helps a lot”

Louis Delétraz put on impressive recovery drives in the last two rounds, coming from the back of the grid in the Monza Sprint Race, to finish eighth, and then rising from seventh to third in the Feature Race in Sochi. So naturally, having Qualified in the top three for today’s Feature Race, the Carlin racer is excited to see he can do from the second row.

It will be just the second time that Delétraz has started in the front three for a Feature Race this season, with the last coming as far back as Bahrain. As such, the Carlin man has grown accustomed to beginning on the back foot and this has seen him develop into a strong starter throughout the campaign.

This places him in prime position to attack from the front, with Callum Ilott and Sergio Sette Camara directly ahead of him.

“We've struggled a bit in the last few quails,” he admitted “We're always in an okay position but never in the top three... P4, P5, P6.

“We've actually been a lot stronger in races recently than on quali pace, so that's why I'm happy to be here today because hopefully we have a good race pace tomorrow and starting ahead helps a lot!”

Unlike Free Practice, Qualifying takes places under the lights at Yas Marina and hands racers their first taste of driving in the evening in 2019. With the Feature Race starting at a similar time, it proves to be the perfect preparation for the different obstacles that it offers up.

“The track from practice to quali has changed massively. It's really hard to judge where to go with the balance of the car. I think we were quite good today, just Sector 3 where it was tough for us, for both Carlins.

“Sector 1 and Sector 2 were super-fast. Usually we know what steps to take from quali to race, so because tomorrow's race is at night it will be a normal step as usual. That will help.”