Dramatically different weather conditions on the Sunday at the Red Bull Ring from the torrential rain of the Saturday. Based on his finishing position of P25 in Race 1, Calan would start Race 2 from that grid position.
After a great getaway from the line, Calan would make up a position up the inside into turn 1, and then another in similar fashion through turn 3. In a huge train of cars, he then set about gaining further positions until being forced wide a few laps in resulting in a loss of the early gains.
Over the following laps he would regain places, moving up to P23 in the order, but at that point was over a second behind P22 and a long train of drivers. Being greater than a second from the car in front meant that Calan did not have the ability to utilise DRS whilst all of those ahead did, as did the driver who was less than half a second behind.
In an excellent two laps Calan managed to close the gap within DRS range whilst holding his position from the attack coming from behind.
After a late safety car Calan made a strong restart and put the car in a position to make a move into turn 4 on the driver ahead. Having claimed the corner, unfortunately the driver being taken was unaware and turned in late taking himself out and causing damage to Calan's steering and floor. As a result the best he could do was hold his position of P23 and the race finished under another safety car.
This was the end to a challenging weekend, where the tone was very much set through the qualifying session which just did not produce the potential which had been demonstrated prior. Calan and the team approached the weekend with confidence and aggression both through strategy and on track, and in both races gained positions. However, in a field of 30 drivers seperated by little more than a second, it is so critical to qualify well.
All focus is now on round 3 in Hungary later this week!
