“In the race the car had good pace and I was able to stay with the two in front, but it's very difficult to pass so I had to be content with third. We know the car is competitive; it's just the start that let the results down. Given we started on pole the result is disappointing, but there are positive points about it, especially given we are only a few points of the championship lead. It's a good start to what can hopefully be a good season.”
Reindler, for his part, made a stunning debut in the #52 machine, matching Tander's pole position feat despite having had just a single day's testing in preparation for the meeting. A hefty crash just moments after setting his lap, however, left the TanderSport team with a huge job ahead of them, as the squad worked miracles to get the car repaired in time to give Reindler a chance to get out for second qualifying – where he would place his Dallara F304-Spiess a solid fifth in class, despite having only a basic set-up on-board.
The 18-year old then raced strongly to come home third on his series debut, overcoming a seatbelt problem throughout the race that caused him substantial pain in fast corners. Despite the ailment, Reindler was able to gain invaluable F3 race experience thanks to several close dices with National Class rivals
en route to his strong finishing position.
“Pole was great,” he enthused. “I was driving on the limit and we obviously had enough speed to take it, but then I pushed too hard, spun in turn four and backed it into the wall, which obviously wasn't too good…
“I got a really good start [in the race], which I was extremely happy with considering it was my first start in Formula 3. I was leading the class, but got muscled out of the way a couple of times which dropped me back to third.
“After that I had seatbelt problems which made it very difficult to drive, so I was happy that the race ended. Overall I'm really happy. It was a really positive weekend for us and I'm really pleased with what I learned about the car.”
