F1 Esports Series Pro Championship - Event 3
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN Esports celebrated its best result of the season as Nico Longuet and Dani Bereznay finished in third and fourth place respectively at the Italian Grand Prix, the opening round of the third event of the F1 Esports Pro Championship. Hungarian star Bereznay was also rewarded with a driver-of-the-day award for his heroics in an event that saw him hold a 15-strong train of cars for the best part of half a race.
The three days of action say the team finish in the points in each of the three races, with Tomek Poradzisz also featuring in the team’s line-up as it tackled events in Monza, Mexico City and Austin.
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN Esports approaches the final event of the season having reinforced its sixth place in the constructors’ championship and having made inroads in the battle for fifth place. With three races still to compete in, the team has 76 points to its name, just six shy of fifth place and 21 ahead of the closest pursuer.
Round Seven: Italy
Nico Longuet (car number 40): 3rd
Dani Bereznay (car number 15): 4th
Round Eight: Mexico
Nico Longuet (car number 40): 6th
Tomek Poradzisz (car number 37):14th
Round Nine: United States
Nico Longuet (car number 40): 15th
Dani Bereznay (car number 15): 7th
Cameron Cowell, Team Principal: “Event three was truly a case of massive highs and lows. In our first race in Monza, we got our best result of the season so far, landing a P3 and P4 at the chequered flag. It is wonderful to see Dani back up there to gain some great results after being unfortunate in the previous events: it felt as something got unblocked in his head and he was able to score again in Austin. Nico was once again our front runner, claiming pole in Monza and being at the sharp end most of the week. He has found some excellent pace and is definitely pushing towards the top six in the drivers’ championship. Tomek missed out on Q2 by the smallest margin, which may hurt the confidence of any driver, but came back strong, gaining four places and finishing P14 in his third ever race: the best thing for him, however, is gaining experience in F1 Esports and putting himself in this situation.”
Nico Longuet: “Finally some good results to celebrate. I was super happy with how Monza panned out. After getting an amazing pole, getting P3 and P4 was amazing for the team, especially for Dani to get his confidence back and get back to his old self. Mexico was a bit harder, starting from P10 and with Tomek coming from the back: we knew it was going to be a long race, but with a good strategy and setup, I managed to get into the top six and hold that position until the end of the race, which was crucial for the constructors’ championship. Austin was not a great event: making a very costly mistake in Q2 saw me start from P12 and, knowing the crazy pace me and Dani had in practice, it was extremely disappointing to say the least. Not all hope was lost though, as I never felt more comfortable in a race in this championship, but unfortunately the weather conditions gave Dani full priority strategically as he was the car ahead, finishing a nice P7 in the end. Overall, that means we got points every race so we cannot be too unsatisfied with ourselves. I'm definitely going to take a break now and get back on the grind for event four.”
Dani Bereznay: “This is the first event for a while in which I scored points in all races I raced, which is great from both a performance and confidence aspect. I did not score for ten races straight last year and the beginning of this one: to get back to where I feel like I belong two times in a row and getting a driver-of-the-day award as well in Italy is a huge step up in my performance. This is a true lesson: if you are passionate, never dare to think about giving up. I practised a lot and tried a lot of things behind the scenes that people will never realise because only results speak: and now finally they speak in my favour.”
Tomek Poradzisz: “Event three leaves me with mixed feelings: as a team we've done super well but, personally, I feel I just underperformed. Qualifying wasn’t to my standards again, followed by a lap one incident which meant I didn’t add any points from my side, which is not what I was looking for coming into arguably my best track so far this season. Nonetheless, both Nico and Dani performed very well and, as a team, this is our best event yet, so going into the finale the morale is high and we're very excited to end the season in style.”