European Formula 3

From Hospital to Victory – Ticktum Reflects on ‘Rollercoaster’ Norisring Weekend

2 Mins read
Daniel Ticktum - Motopark
Credit: Davide Pastanella / Red Bull Content Pool

Daniel Ticktum went from a check up on Sunday morning to a remarkable race victory later that day as the Briton escaped injury after a start line crash with Ameya Vaidyanathan at the Norisring.

The Motopark driver was fifth on the grid but stalled as the lights went out, but Vaidyanathan appeared not to see the Briton’s car, with the Indian smashing into the back of Ticktum and causing an immediate red flag.

Luckily, both drivers were able to extract themselves from their cars, and after a check-up, Ticktum was back in the car for the final race of the weekend, with the mechanics having worked overtime to get him on track in time after the car was nearly destroyed in the accident.

“What an incredible weekend,” said Ticktum. “At least we finished with a win and that is what we came for. It doesn’t get much more up and down than that.

“Just today, from spending two hours in the hospital this morning to winning this afternoon, just incredible. The guys did an amazing job to rebuild the car after that huge smash at the start, just a fantastic effort and the car was good enough to win, it was wrecked this morning and they rebuilt it.”

The hefty crash on Sunday morning made him almost forget about what had gone on before, which had included a grid penalty for race one for exiting the pit lane under a red light, even though he and a few other drivers were waved through to do so by the marshals!

Ticktum had topped his Qualifying group but having been set to start from second on the grid, he was forced to start fourth thanks to the penalty, and despite having good pace could only take a fourth place finish.

“The whole weekend has been a rollercoaster, we had pace from the start, we´ve always got pace and then in qualifying in the wet I was top of my group but then I got a rather ridiculous penalty for going through a red light at the end of the pit lane even though 2 marshals were waving me through!” said the Red Bull Junior.  “Three other drivers also received this penalty.

“So in a way it is a bit of a ‘what if´ because we should have had a better grid position and at least a podium from Race 1 but so much happened today that I’d forgotten about that. The main thing is that I might not have been walking after what happened this morning but I got away with a bad headache and an achy neck.”

The final race saw him pass both team-mate Jüri Vips and Prema Theodore Racing’s Marcus Armstrong to take the win, although Vips ran him close to the line, finshing alongside him in a photo finish that went the way of Ticktum by 0.057 seconds.

“I got past Jüri pretty quickly then there was a whole lot of boring Safety Car laps but I eventually got the chance to have a go for P1 and made it stick, just a brilliant end to the weekend,” said Ticktum.

“We had a great photo done with the team who worked so hard including some of the damaged bits and now I’m celebrating with a Ryanair flight, that´s what it like until you are in F1!”

13769 posts

About author
Long time motorsport fanatic, covering Formula 1 and the occassional other series. Feel free to give him a follow on Twitter at @Paul11MSport.
Articles
Related posts
DTMEuropean Formula 3Formula European MastersGeneral Formula 3

Fenestraz Loses Renault Backing after Failing to Meet Top Three Target

1 Mins read
Sacha Fenestraz’s failure to finish inside the top three in the FIA European Formula 3 championship in 2018 has cost him his place in the Renault Sport Academy.
European Formula 3Season Review

Season Review: 2018 FIA European Formula 3 Championship - Schumacher's Title

7 Mins read
The Checkered Flag looks back at the 2018 FIA European Formula 3 Championship season, a year where the name of Schumacher once again became the one to beat in motor sport.
DTMEuropean Formula 3FIA World RallycrossGT World ChallengePorsche Mobil 1 Supercup

Andreas Bakkerud Heads Audi's Rookie Test Line-Up

1 Mins read
The World Rallycross Championship race winner is one of the six drivers called up by Audi for the end-of-season rookie testing.