Late race puncture ruins Robert Wickens’ perfect weekend

Robert Wickens looked set to leave Zandvoort with the joint lead of the championship if not more after a near perfect race weekend, which was ruined with five laps to go when the HWA Mercedes-AMG C63 developed a puncture, forcing him to pit from second position.

Wickens had moved ahead of the fellow Mercedes of Gary Paffett on lap three and fought hard against the Audi of Jamie Green in the early stages before the pit stop sequence, when he lost ground behind a few Audis which opted to stop later in the race.

“I think Audi did a fantastic job today,” said Wickens to TouringCarTimes. “From Jamie’s pace to their strategy – fortunately for them they had cars in position that they could strategically keep out to slow me down, but they did a mega job. I wasn’t even frustrated when it was happening, I could see exactly what was planned…I had a good fight with Jamie at the beginning, I had one shot and went for it, I could have had a bigger go into Turn 2, but I was thinking of the bigger picture.”

Unfortunately for Wickens his race unravelled on lap 34, when his front-left tyre punctured, just a few moments later the same happened to fourth-placed Christian Vietoris, also driving for Mercedes, with both drivers eliminated from the points scoring positions.

“It would have been a mega result, especially after going into the weekend 17 points behind…but five laps from the end getting a puncture, it’s heart breaking,” he said.

“The lap prior I felt something strange – at first I thought the rear anti-roll bar broke. I went on the radio and said I think something’s broken, but then down into Turn 1 I got a low tyre pressure warning on the dash, then I knew what was happening and that I was in the shit.

“I thought maybe I could manage it with two good team-mates behind me. I took it easy but it went at Turn 7 and then I just went off at Turn 8. We’re doing a good enough job to win the championship, but we’re just not having the luck at the moment.”