A lap deletion for Zane Maloney means he faces an uphill weekend in both FIA Formula 2 races at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya with two P21 starts.
Speaking to InsideF2 after Qualifying, the Rodin Carlin driver rued his misfortune after showing he had enough pace for a better starting slot.
“I think I should’ve been in the top 10. Got the lap deleted of course. The lap was a half-second quicker — the one that got deleted. I was up in P7 and then it got deleted.”
Further compounding Maloney’s troubles is a technical glitch that the team will need to investigate to prevent it from affecting his race.
“On that lap (the one that got deleted), something strange happened in T9.
“I lost two-tenths; nothing I could’ve done about that. So yeah, a very annoying day. Very frustrated.
“We were looking good after the first run. I think we were P6. We knew what we needed to improve on for the second run. But then we ended up with P21.
“I’m not really sure what to think at the moment.”
Irrespective of the mammoth task ahead of him, the boy from Barbados still found some optimism about the season as a whole with his P6 position in the standings.
“[I’m] just trying to think of the positives because Monaco was a very good round.
“We have many more rounds to go, so thinking of the positives and not too much of the negatives right now.”
When asked if he’s hoping for some fun in Saturday’s Sprint Race and Sunday’s Feature Race by being a faster driver at the back, a determined Maloney assured us he was.
“That’s the plan. Tomorrow will be difficult. Hopefully [there’s] a lot of deg or rain to spice things up.
“I think we can still score some points this weekend.
“That’ll be the aim. That’ll be the goal. We’ll see. Anything can happen.”
The Formula 2 Sprint Race is set to get underway at 14:15 local time on Saturday.
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited
