David Beckmann was naturally delighted to claim his maiden GP3 Series victory last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, with the young German leading from pole position to the chequered flag to win race one on Saturday morning.
The Trident driver finished ahead of Ryan Tveter for a team one-two, but despite pressure from his American team-mate he was able to push when needed to maintain his position and clinch his first victory since 2015, when he took race victories in Formula 4.
“It feels pretty good!” commented Beckmann in the post-race press conference. “I think you need a few hours to actually realise it when you have a good result like that!
“It was a mega race, the start was very good and so I managed to get – I think it was by turn 5 – about a two-second gap and I didn’t see anyone behind me. Then I saw Ryan, and that was good for us because it was a Trident one-two so I was quite happy, and so I just tried to continue my pace.
“I saw Ryan was a bit faster, so I went quicker and kept the gap pretty constant between us to keep the 1-2 for the team.”
Beckmann said he did not want to push to the limit to add the fastest lap to his pole position and, at that point, potential victory, as he did not want to be the one remembered for throwing away a maiden victory.
“I didn’t really want to push completely to the limit because I didn’t want to be the one who was in P1 and end up in the gravel or the wall!” said Beckmann. “And I’ve never had a win in GP3 either – if I had more wins here, I could push a bit more, but not when I’m on the way to get my first one!
“So I tried to keep the car on the track and not over-push.”
Beckmann feels the win ‘came out of nowhere’ after a disappointing start to the season, with only two points finishes in his four rounds with Jenzer Motorsport before switching to Trident ahead of the round at the Hungaroring, where he immediately got on the pace of his team-mates.
“For me, the win is pretty amazing, it came out of nowhere really!” said the German. “The races haven’t been so good this year, Budapest was a lot better but to come here and get victory in the main race, especially against the other drivers where the quality is so high in this competition, it’s just amazing.”
Unfortunately for Beckmann, his Sunday morning race was over before it begun as he returned to the pits on the formation lap with a mechanical problem and failed to take to the circuit. However, his victory moved him up to ninth place in the Drivers’ Championship.
