Last Wednesday, the team travelled to Monza, Italy, for the second round of the WCSLeague’s Formula 3 Season 1. In the runup to the race, Casper Onwijn told the team that he wanted to step down to focus on the upcoming 2017 Formula Challenge season. Due to the short notice, the team was unable to find a replacement driver, which meant that Philipp König was the sole STAX Racing entry for this car. The team currently is in talks with several drivers, so that we can again field two cars in the upcoming races.

Philipp qualified in 16th position, which meant he had a good chance to score the first points for the team this season. However, on lap 1, he collided with a lagging car, which sent Philipp flying into the air before crashing into the barriers. He rejoined the race in 26th place and had to pit the following lap.

However, this setback didn’t stop the German driver. On the contrary, what followed was a stellar comeback drive by Phillip, who began chasing down the field the second he left the pit lane. On lap 14, he was in P17 already and was chasing down Bret Metcalf. Philipp was able to overtake the Deltec Racing driver on the outside at the entry of Parabolica and, one lap later, he was in a points scoring position again. On lap 18, he gained another spot and was now in 14th place. Philipp had to pit the next lap and rejoined the race in P15. He gained another two spots when, on lap 22, Bret Metcalf’s engine failed and Tobias Olsson crashed two laps later. In the end, Philipp was awarded 3 points in a race that looked like it was over after Lap 1.

In the sprint race, Philipp came of the line superbly, passing Wesley Stefano in the EJ Engineering car in front of him. Several cars crashed in the first chicane but the STAX Racing driver managed to avoid the carnage and emerged in 7th place. On Lap 3 he lost a place to Sven de Fries and went wide into the first Lesmo corner. After rejoining the track, he found himself in 9th position. The next lap he went wide at exactly the same corner, however this time he made contact with the barrier on the inside. As a result, Philipp wasn’t up to speed at the second Lesmo corner and Joe Watts crashed into the back of him. This turned out to be race ending as Philipp retired the car shortly after.

The next round will be held in Magny-Cours, France, on Feb 15th, 2017. Below, you can find the broadcast of the race, followed by the results of all timed sessions.

Results