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Duerksen ‘aiming’ for Sprint victory after improved qualifying performance in Barcelona
Joshua Duerksen has hailed AIX Racing for the improvements they have made recently, but says they must capitalise on their momentum with strong results, starting in the Barcelona Sprint Race.
The Paraguayan driver had not qualified inside the top 10 since Round 2 in Bahrain, but his final lap of the day in Barcelona of a 1:25.750 was enough for him to qualify ninth.
Duerksen had been on the back foot in Qualifying, as his first time was deleted for exceeding track limits, although he was able to complete another lap that put him 17th.
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But after securing a top 10 result, and a front row start in Saturday’s Sprint Race, the AIX driver felt he maximised it all.
“It's really hot, so the track is really hot, especially for the Soft tyre,” said Duerksen. “It's not what they like, they like a cooler track because they survive the lap better.
“Qualifying, the first stint was not great. I was expecting a lot more, but at the same time, I was exploring the limit, over pushing a bit, so it makes sense the result in the first stint. But the good thing is I knew exactly what I needed to do on the second set.
“I think we also made a good call with the strategy, to not go out straight away, to let the other cars go first. I think that was really good, but it got tight at the end.
“I still needed to do some adjustments in the car but I still made it to do one lap and the lap was good to be honest, it felt really good. I think I extracted everything. We are not where we want to be but at least it's a big improvement compared to the last few weekends I have had.
“I’m really happy, and of course it gives a big boost to the team, starting tomorrow on the front row, and I’m really happy for this. I want to extract everything tomorrow and I hope this is now a new beginning for us and we can recover some good points now.”
Duerksen was also one of 11 drivers who chose not to go out on track at the green light, instead leaving the pit lane with nine minutes gone in the session.
Explaining his and AIX’s decision, the 21-year-old said: “We went out later because we wanted the other guys to go first. We wanted them to clean up the track, see what they do and then go out and also to try and avoid the traffic.
“Usually if everyone goes out at the same time, there is so much traffic on the first lap. So, we were like ‘Wait, let the other cars go, and then we go in clean air, no traffic and just do our run’, that was the main purpose.”
Looking ahead to the Sprint Race, Duerksen – who has not scored a point since the Bahrain Feature Race – is keen for him and AIX to capitalise on their strong starting positions.
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“I'm aiming for the win,” he said. “If I do the same job as I did in Australia, I will be really happy. Starting P2, I usually do very good starts, so I hope I can do that tomorrow. Then of course be first for the first lap and then manage the race.
“We are starting to create momentum now, so we have to use it. As soon as this momentum stops it's really hard to start again and then get on a roll. For sure we have to maximise it now and try and get the best results possible till the end of the season.”