A promising day for the Dutchman was turned into a bad one, as Robin Frijns went from 4th to battling to finish the race after an altercation with Sebastien Buemi.
An over-optimistic Buemi went for a move at the hairpin, making contact and riding Frijns’ right-rear momentarily, which dislodged Robin’s rear wing, forcing him to pit early after he was ordered to by race control. Exceptional energy saving from the Dutchman did however enable him to finish the race ahead of Buemi in 15th.
Discussing his race and the incident with Buemi, Robin Frijns said, “I was hit from behind from Buemi. The hit damaged my rear wing, it was off the car. So I was black flagged and had to come in and change cars. I had to do 25-laps in the second car so I had to drive really slowly, conserving a lot of energy.
“But really the race was over, it’s as easy as that. But I want to say thank you to the guys on the team. They did not deserve that finish for all the hard work they do to get the car prepared. They gave me a good car this weekend.”
The Dutch driver finds himself level on points with Daniel Abt in the drivers championship, with both drivers on 31 points going into the European rounds.
