Verschoor satisfied with ‘really good car’ at Sochi following Feature Race overtakes

Richard Verschoor says he had a “really good car” underneath him during Sunday’s Feature Race in Sochi, as he climbed from 14th on the starting grid to eighth at the chequered flag.

The position mirrored the result he achieved during the Sprint Race on Saturday, as he bagged his first points since his strong weekend at Silverstone earlier this year.

“Today was a very good race,” Verschoor said. “I think the start was good, the opening lap was OK and then we had good pace on the Supersoft tyres. I could really extend one more lap than anybody else, we were the last one to pit, which worked well.

“But then when I went on the Medium tyres I could not get them switched on at all. It took me about three and a half laps to get some temperature inside, which was a shame because we were on a good race and we lost a lot of time with this issue.

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“I had some really nice overtakes on the Mediums on those who were on the softer tyres. I felt confident, I had a really good car, really good pace.

“Yesterday was also a decent race in very tricky conditions. I think most places I gained was because either people went off or had something.

“But in general, the pace was quite strong. Always in the race we have good pace, just if you have to come from 15th or 14th, it’s not ideal.”

Verschoor was mostly positive about his display this weekend, but he admitted to being disappointed by his qualifying result, which forced him to start outside the top ten in both the Sprint and Feature Race.

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“It’s just a shame that we have to start from the back or the midfield all the time because of qualifying,” Verschoor said. “I hope we can do better in the next round.

“I don’t know why we couldn’t get it right. We were on the Mediums in Free Practice but then as soon as we went to the Super Soft, the performance just wasn’t there.

“I really couldn’t do much about it unfortunately. So that’s the only downside. The rest I’m really pleased with, the pace, the overtakes.”