Jonathan Aberdein had by far his most impressive weekend so far in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship at Silverstone, with the South African taking two podium finishes across the three races, although had it not been for an issue under the full course yellow (FCY) in race one, it could have been three.
The Motopark driver was on course for his maiden series podium in that opening race on Saturday morning only to be jumped by both Enaam Ahmed and Jüri Vips on the restart, meaning he was forced to wait until the second race later that day to finally stand on the podium in third, a result he then went on to repeat in Sunday’s third and final race of the weekend.
Aberdein says all he wants to do at this stage of the season – Silverstone was the sixth round of ten in the 2018 campaign – is improve, while his target for the remaining races is to fight for and take his maiden series victory.
“It was quite alright,” said Aberdein to The Checkered Flag. “[I had a] strong qualifying and just brought it home during the races, [I had] much better results than in the previous weekends so super happy about that.
“I’m just trying to improve every race, every qualifying, learn as much as I can and would just like to fight for wins constantly at the last three or four events, this is the goal.”
When asked what changed for Silverstone, Aberdein said the summer break and a trip back home enabled him to relax and come to the British circuit brimming with confidence.
“Mostly for me, a mental approach,” said Aberdein. “I came here confident from the summer break, had a nice rest back at home and came super confident, and kind of delivered.”
The FIA European Formula 3 Championship moves swiftly on to the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Italy for round seven this weekend, and Aberdein is gunning to become the third driver from Motopark to win races in 2018 after Daniel Ticktum and Vips.
“[I’ll take] full confidence, full momentum, [and go on] full attack to try and win those three,” insists Aberdein. “We have a strong Motopark line up which makes a massive difference.
“[There is] a lot of quick drivers so it’s easy to test off and optimise the set-up for the Qualifying.”