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In the Formula 2 Monaco Sprint Race, Taylor Barnard picked up his first win and his first points.
Taylor Barnard celebrates with his team after the Monaco Sprint Race (Image Credit: Joe Portlock – Getty Images)The British rookie was sitting in last place in the standings before Formula 2 came to Monaco. Then, he qualified fifth fastest in Group B (the slower of the two qualifying groups), which put him on Reverse Grid Pole for the Sprint Race.
30 laps later Barnard was a not just Sprint Race winner for the first time, but also a points-scorer. The ten points given to him from his maiden win bumped him up to 18th in the standings, just three points behind Trident’s Roman Stanek.
“It feels absolutely amazing,” Barnard commented to selected media, including FormulaNerds after the race.
“We had the points in Imola which got taken away from us due to the disqualification which was a shame. You saw by [Joshua] Durksen’s pace that weekend that the car has definitely improved throughout the first half of the season.
“This weekend we knew that we could have done something a little better than what we have done previously. I managed to get reverse pole in Qualifying and from then on we just had to try to execute in the race which we did.”
Improvement throughout the season
The 20 year-old driver sees this win as the next step in a continuing upward trajectory, commenting: “In Formula 2 we’re picking up good momentum, we’re improving race by race, the car as well as myself. So we’ll keep improving and see what happens.”
It wasn’t just Barnard’s maiden Formula 2 win, but also his team’s. AIX Racing now sits tenth in the championship, ahead of ART Grand Prix.
The team had a slow start to the season, but Joshua Duerksen gave the newly re-branded team their first podium in the Imola Feature Race, and now they’ve scored their first win in Formula 2.
According to Barnard, the improvement on both his side and the team’s side has mainly come from lessons learned in the in-season test that took place in April.
“I think it’s a little bit of everything to be honest,” he commented when asked after the race where the improvement was coming from. “Coming into this season I had absolutely no preparation, it was a last-minute call for me to even do Formula 2. So I’m improving myself race by race, the team obviously was struggling a little bit at the beginning.
“The in-season test definitely helped up us turn the car around. Obviously I can’t give away too many details because that would be giving away the key. But I think the team has done a great job to turn it around, and the key was probably the test in my opinion. It was the same last year in Formula 3 for me, not just the car but myself as well.”
Barnard will start tenth for tomorrow’s Feature Race and hope to add a few more points to his tally.
Feature Image Credit: FIA Formula 2