Louis Deletraz moved to within eleven points of championship leader Tom Dillmann after a double podium finish at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza last weekend.
The Fortec Motorsports driver finished second to Roy Nissany on Saturday, and then third on Sunday behind Egor Orudzhev and Rene Binder, and coupled with two disappointing races for Dillmann, recovered 29 points on his rival and pulled away from third place.
“I felt happy with the car and the set-up after Friday’s practice and my pace in qualifying was good with my main competitors all behind,” said Deletraz. “The objective for the race was to score the maximum points I could and I’m really happy with the way it worked out. I made a good start and when Dillmann didn’t score it was 18 points in the bag.
“Sunday qualifying was bit more tricky because the track was a little damp and it was drying with every lap. Unfortunately I was the first driver to get the chequered flag and all the other cars did one more lap. The track improved during that time and I went from P2 to P8. It was just bad luck.”
Deletraz felt his race two start was amongst his best of the season, with the Swiss driver moving from his disappointing eighth to run third, a position he would hold until the end of the race.
“I had a mega start in the race, going from eighth to third before the safety car,” said Deletraz. “That was satisfying because sometimes my starts have been a weak point, but together with the team I think we’ve found a good set-up and mapping to make them smooth and quick.
“After that it was just about staying there – especially considering where my rivals were and the fact that overtaking was so hard with everybody running such low downforce. In the end I caught another 11 points to Dillmann, and with two rounds to go, and 100 points at stake, that puts us fully back in the game.”