2009 FORMULA 3 EURO SERIES
Zandvoort, rounds 7 and 8 – June 17th-19th
For immediate release
Thursday, July 16th 2009
ARAB WORLD’S BASIL SHAABAN RETURNS TO ZANDVOORT IN OPTIMISTIC MOOD
· Shell-backed driver visits sponsor’s global headquarters in The Hague
· Prema Powerteam driver aims for first F3 Euro Series points at Zandvoort
ABU DHABI (UAE): Abu Dhabi-raised Lebanese Formula 3 driver, Basil Shaaban, will be hoping that his performance at the recent Masters of F3 race meeting at Zandvoort stands him in good stead, when he returns to the Dutch circuit to tackle the seventh and eighth rounds of the prestigious F3 Euro Series this weekend.
“The Masters of F3 weekend was another milestone for me in terms of my finishing result, as well as my driving and racing competitiveness,” reflects Shaaban, who will drive his Prema Powerteam Dallara Mercedes-Benz F308/309 in the two races at the Dutch circuit this Saturday and Sunday.
“My performances and results have come a long way since last season and, with my team, I reconfirmed that in the Masters at Zandvoort. Together, we will apply the lessons learned from the Masters to take our performance up another level this weekend.”
Twenty-three of the most competitive of the 27-strong F3 Euro Series field took part in the recent Zandvoort meeting and the Arab world’s leading F3 driver knows it will not be easy to achieve his goal in Formula One most competitive feeder series.
“The weather forecast shows it could rain for the whole weekend. It was totally dry at the Masters, so this would equalise things all over again. I would relish the rain, personally, since Zandvoort is a challenging circuit and there are a lot of areas I’m looking to improve in my wet weather performance.”
Shaaban, who is jointly a UN World Youth Ambassador for Road Safety and an ambassador for the UAE’s national Salama Road Safety campaign, has just come from The Hague in the Netherlands, where he spent two days promoting road safety at sponsor Shell’s global headquarters.
“After two years of successive work with Shell in the Middle East, it felt great to finally interact with my title sponsors on a global level and to share with them the nature and results of our partnership,” enthused the Abu Dhabi-raised Lebanese. “This was especially relevant on the subject of our Road Safety initiatives.”
Shaaban has been working hard on his fitness and mental training in advance of this weekend’s Zandvoort meeting and has modified his programme specifically to cope with the demands of the 4.397km Dutch circuit.
“I’ve included specific endurance training for my upper arms, since the long, cambered and high-speed corners at Zandvoort can fatigue the steering muscles towards the end of races. Giving away lap time through fatigue is not acceptable!”
Jules Bianchi of the ART Grand Prix team leads the points’ standings after six rounds of the 20-race F3 Euro Series, from Christian Vietoris of the Mücke Motorsport operation and Jean-Karl Vernay of the Signature team. Shaaban has repeatedly proved his capability this season to run inside the top 10 of the pinnacle F3 series and will be pushing hard to achieve his goal of a points’ finish inside the top eight at the weekend.
“I just have to keep up the performance level I have shown all the way from qualifying to the chequered flag. Self-belief and a relentless determination are now fundamental to achieving this consistently. I’m developing faster than the more experienced guys I’m competing against so I’m really excited about what the future may bring.”
Ends
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