Jeddah Corniche Circuit

SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX

Commentary: Cameras:

WATCH NOW
April 06, 2019
Published on tags: Superleague 2019 Jannick Bock

 

Ahead of Round 3 of the WTF1 Superleague, Championship leader Jannick Bock talks to Ewan Gale about the challenges of the Sakhir track.
The GPVWC WTF1 Superleague is already progressing to the third round of the 2019 championship. As the drivers and teams prepare for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the winner of the first two rounds - Evolution Motorsports' Jannick Bock - takes us through the three sectors of the Bahrain International Circuit.

Sector one takes us from the start finish straight down into a heavy braking zone into turn one. Turns two and three are in the traction zone on the exit of the first corner, and are vital for getting the power down for the drag up to an overtaking zone at turn four.

And according to Bock, the heavy braking zones in this sector could be key:

"In sector one, the braking zones are critical. Tyres locking up can be a huge problem here, which could lead to high amounts of wear on the front tyres and possibly influence the whole race strategy."

The middle sector is the most technical part of the lap, which takes us from the sweeping complex at turns five and six all the way to the penultimate corner. The drivers will also have to make their way through the tricky double-apex at turn 9. Car set-up will be key come the race:

"The second sector can be hard if you run with less wing to find some speed on the straights. To maximise the lap time it will be key to find a good balance between downforce and top speed."

The final sector takes in two right handers - the final corner a tight apex with a kink on exit which can eat into lap time if you drift wide.

After an impressive start to the championship, and with minimal pre-season testing, Bock knows that the run he is on will be hard to keep up:

"I broke my hand in the off-season so the first time I drove the car was in the last pre-season test. My teammate Dennis [Jordan] tested all of the upgrades and has really helped me with the base set-up, he's a great teammate.

"But it will be hard to keep the run going. There are very good drivers on the grid and you have to perform at your best in every session in order to compete in this league."

Jannick says that the final corner can be tricky but that 'honestly, you can make mistakes at every corner on this track, not just the last one!'

You can watch Round 3 of the GPVWC WTF1 Superleague from Bahrain on April 11th, with Qualifying at 19:00, and the Race start at 20:00.