David Beckmann proved that his performance at Spa-Francorchamps was not just a one-off as he took a second consecutive GP3 Series feature race victory at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza last Saturday.
The German driver continued his good form that began when he joined Trident ahead of the Hungaroring round in July after his departure from Jenzer Motorsport, taking pole position on Friday before converting that into the victory on Saturday morning, withstanding pressure from championship leader Anthoine Hubert before pulling away towards the end.
“It’s nice to continue these good days since Budapest, and now we have again a win: it’s awesome for the team, and also for me it’s extremely nice because again it was the main race, and again from pole position,” said Beckmann in the post-race press conference on Saturday.
“I managed to stay in front: it was a bit tight in the first corner, but that’s normal for these conditions and these corners. It was a very interesting race, especially because the conditions were drying up and the tyres were overheating, and in the end a driver went on slicks and he was going extremely fast, so it was hard to manage the tyres and to keep them cool.”
Beckmann felt the race and the battle with Hubert was enjoyable as he was able to push the car to the limit, but it was made all the sweeter by standing on the top step of the podium in Trident’s home race.
“In the end I won with quite a margin, I think 5 seconds, and it was a very nice race: I enjoyed it a lot, because these conditions are good and you can push the car to the limit, get some oversteer and it is fun to drive, and it’s good to be again on the top of the podium,” said Beckmann.
“Anthoine has the championship lead so I wouldn’t push too much because also I want to win, but we were both extremely fast and it was an enjoyable race.”
Unlike in Spa, Beckmann was able to start Sunday’s second race and finished seventh, although this became fifth when both Hubert and Callum Ilott were disqualified ahead of him. He has moved himself up to sixth place in the Drivers’ Championship with two rounds to go, and is only eight points away from breaking the one-hundred point barrier.