Australian Joey Mawson will make his debut on Russian soil when he contests the penultimate round of the 2018 GP3 Series at the Sochi Autodrom this weekend.

The PODIUM-backed driver believes Sochi not having been on the GP3 Series schedule since 2015, it should prove to be a good leveller.

“Having been based in Europe for several years now, there’s not too many of the circuits that we go to that are new to me, so this weekend is an exciting experience,” said Mawson.

“With the Series not having been to Sochi since 2015 there are only a couple of drivers who have competed there before, and none of them have been in a GP3 car. So that should be a good leveller.”

As for the characteristics of the circuit, Mawson believes it will provide a significant challenge and should produce some exciting racing.

“The layout is a very interesting one. There’s a lot of third gear corners, and another high speed corner before a slow speed section on the final part of a lap,” said Mawson.

“We’re on the soft tyre this weekend, so we hope that the work we’ve done in between rounds will put us in a good position to manage our tyre wear. Our aim is to be inside the top eight in Race One and then take advantage of our position from there.”

Mawson will take to the circuit for the first time aboard his Arden Motorsport Dallara on Friday morning ahead of qualifying in the afternoon. He’ll then contest a pair of races, one each on Saturday and Sunday.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Schedule (Local Time)
Practice – Friday September 28 – 9:30am
Qualifying – Friday September 28 – 5:50pm
Race 1 – Saturday September 29 – 10:15am
Race 2 – Sunday September 30 – 10:05am

Schedule (AEST)
Practice – Friday September 28 – 4:30pm
Qualifying – Saturday September 29 – 12:50am
Race 1 – Saturday September 29 – 5:15pm
Race 2 – Sunday September 30 – 5:05pm

Australian Joey Mawson endured a difficult weekend during Round Seven of the 2018 GP3 Series at Monza in Italy.

With the opening practice session being rained out, the PODIUM-backed driver went into qualifying aiming for the top ten.

Unfortunately Mawson was unable to get a slipstream around the high-speed circuit, which left him battling for an outright lap time, and he was only able to set the 15th fastest time.

“Qualifying was a real challenge, I couldn’t quite find the right space to get a slipstream. If I had been able to get a tow I think I would have been inside the top ten but it wasn’t to be,” said Mawson.

In the opening race Mawson edged his way forward to cross the line in 12th place.

During the early laps of race two, Mawson also made his way forward to be knocking on the door of another top ten result. Unfortunately, contact with another competitor mid-race caused damage to his suspension and he was forced to battle an ill-handling car for the remainder of the race. He would eventually cross the line 15th, this would later be elevated to 12th following some post-race penalties to other competitors.

“It was a difficult weekend, we just couldn’t find the speed we needed,” said Mawson.

“After qualifying 15th we were behind the eight-ball and chasing ourselves.

“I managed to move up a few spots in race one and the same thing in the early laps of race two. I then had a coming together with another competitor that damaged my wishbone and made the car a bit of a handful to drive.

“To be able to race at Monza on the Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend was an amazing experience, unfortunately the results weren’t what we were aiming for.

“We’ve now got a couple of weeks to regroup and finish the year off strong in Russia and Abu Dhabi.”

David Beckman and Pedro Piquet won the weekend’s races while Anthoine Hubert remains in the lead of the Championship.