Round 4 Post Sprint Race Press Conference

FIA Formula 3: Hello and welcome to Monaco, where it's time for our post Sprint Race press conference with the top three finishers in FIA Formula 3, in third place today, Laurens van Hoepen from ART Grand prix, in second place is Tuukka Taponen also for ART Grand Prix and taking the victory is Martinius Stenshorne from Hitech TGR. Martinius congratulations your second F3 victory but your first in Monaco, how does that feel?

Martinius Stenshorne: It feels good. Not an optimal quali yesterday, there was heaps of traffic but ultimately that’s what put us in a position to have the win today. I think it’s a good result and it’s really nice to do it here.

FIA Formula 3: How critical was that start today because you got away really well. Was it a talking point going into the race, to make sure you got ahead of Giusti at the start?

Stenshorne: Yeah exactly, it’s only on the start really that you can make some moves. I was really happy to get the position into T1 and from there on I could just control it.

FIA Formula 3: Attention turns to tomorrow, you’ll start from P11 on the grid, are your eyes on more points?

Stenshorne: Yeah I hope we can take some more. It’s not going to be as easy as today but we will try.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you, Tuukka to you another F3 podium, talk us through your race how was it from your perspective?

Tuukka Taponen: For sure I had a really good start. I made up two places there. Basically the race was over after the first corner. Obviously I focused on keeping the car on track and I didn’t take any risks to push too much. I was happy after the start so the start is really important here as we know.

FIA Formula 3: It is your fifth consecutive points result going back to Bahrain, it is more championship points and another podium, it must feel like you have some nice momentum at the moment going into tomorrow and the rounds to come.

Taponen: Yes for sure, our target tomorrow is just to score some points again. I’ll take everything I can. Again focus on that first lap, especially the start. We will try to keep this momentum up.

FIA Formula 3: You got close to Martinius a couple of times, did you ever think of maybe making a move or was it just too risky?

Taponen: No I think Martinius was controlling his tyres and trying to get the fastest lap, that’s why I was close to him at some points. He was pushing and then cooling the tyres and again pushing so, I was never going to attack him because I was happy where I was.

FIA Formula 3: Thank you Tuukka, Laurens thanks for waiting back on the Monaco podium for a second time in two years, your first podium since this time last year, how does it feel to be back in the Top 3?

Laurens van Hoepen: It feels good, obviously I was a bit disappointed after yesterday’s Qualifying. I want to go to for pole in the group at least, so to not get that, at least it gave us a good starting position for today. I was able to capitalize on that. I think the start wasn’t great but after that we managed the race and stayed where we were.

FIA Formula 3: You were in a bit of a sandwich between your teammate and Giusti, I think you were about two tenths of Tuukka at one point, did you ever think about making a move or did you have to defend from Giusti at all?

Laurens van Hoepen: I never had to defend but I thought about a move a couple of times but it’s just so hard to make a pass around here. So in the end I thought better of it and just tried to stay close for if there was a mistake at some point but it never came. Just stayed where I was.

FIA Formula 3: it’s the first podium of this season, it’s two consecutive points finishes for you now, I know it has been a difficult start to the season for you but it’s beginning to feel like you’ve got some momentum and form going into the rest of the season?

Van Hoepen: Yeah it’s been a really tough start so far. There is still some work to do, being on the Sprint Race podium is not the podium I want to be on. We are working step by step and hopefully in Barcelona we can make another step forward and work from there.

FIA Formula 3: Nice one, thank you all.