Nobuharu Matsushita claimed a fourth podium finish of the season during Saturday’s Feature race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, initially finishing third before being promoted to second when Luca Ghiotto was penalised.
The ART Grand Prix driver battled hard throughout, and found himself improving his position late in the race as conditions got better, and admitted that it was a crazy race from start to finish.
The Japanese driver felt his pace was not good enough in the early laps but it came better in the latter stages, although he was unable to better seventh in the dry Sprint race on Sunday, just ahead of team-mate Alexander Albon.
“I am really happy, because in the beginning it was really difficult to follow the guys in front of me,” said Matsushita on fiaformula2.com. “I had a lot of wheelspin at the start and I lost 2-3 positions and then I tried to follow, and I was P5 until the final laps where it was crazy, and I’m happy we managed it well, I think.
“It was better and better, lap by lap, and also my pace improved quite a lot compared to the beginning: in the beginning my pace was too slow I think, but in the end it was quite similar to these guys, and I’m quite happy to be on the podium.”