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Few Opportunities to Pass in Spain
Hamper Tveter’s Momentum in GP3

CADIZ, Spain, Oct. 9 - The penultimate round of the 2017 GP3 championship did not unfold as Ryan Tveter anticipated when heading to his first race at one of his favorite test tracks, the Circuito de Jerez in Southern Spain. Difficulties in practice followed the young American and his Trident team into qualifying, where extreme heat and adjustments to his car’s setup that did not work out as they hoped put Tveter just below mid-pack on a track where passing is very difficult. The result was no points for Tveter either Saturday or Sunday in the GP3 doubleheader that shared the card with the FIA Formula 2 championship.

Having achieved five top-five finishes, including two podiums, in the last five GP3 events, Tveter and his team had good reasons for high hopes at Jerez. 

But the only American in the field of future F1 hopefuls started 13th and finished 12th in Saturday’s 23-lap race on the 2.751-mile, 13-turn road course. He started 12th and finished 15th in Sunday’s 17-lap race in Trident’s No. 11 Dallara, which carries the colors of Jagonya Ayam!/KFC Indonesia and Pertamina.

Tveter’s qualifying time was 1:31.689, which put the Oyster Bay, N.Y.-based rookie a little past mid-pack along with two of his teammates for the start of Saturday’s race. One of those teammates, Kevin Joerg, went through a gravel trap on the first lap, pitted, and dropped to the rear, which advanced Tveter to 12th place, and Tveter remained in that position for the entire race. His best lap was lap 13, which he did in 1:33.937. He battled Steijn Schothorst throughout the race, and he was only 0.295 behind him at the checkered. The pair’s fastest race laps were only 0.027 apart.

Tveter was 0.502 ahead of the 13th-place finisher, Tatiana Calderon, at the checkered in Saturday’s non-stop event.

Tveter had to avoid a possible accident at the start of Sunday’s race and dropped from 12th to 16th. He ran between Bruno Baptista and Raoul Hyman for most of the race. There was a short yellow in that race when the driver who was fourth, Daniel Ticktum, landed in a gravel trap rimming Turn 4 working lap 14, which advanced Tveter to 15th. 

Tveter’s fastest lap in Sunday’s race was lap 12, which he did in 1:33.340. He was 0.269 behind the 14th-place finisher, Baptista, at the checkered. He was 0.494 ahead of the 16th place finisher, Hyman, at the end. He and Hyman set

their fastest race laps on the same lap and Hyman’s was 0.029 faster, but Tveter successfully held him off. 

“Jerez is a new circuit to the series and the team,” Tveter noted. “We took a risk on an aggressive setup in practice that didn't pay off. That of course made qualifying very difficult. It was extremely close, but unfortunately qualifying set the weekend. Jerez is very technical with short straights so overtaking is virtually impossible. Limited tire degradation made it even tougher for passing opportunities even if you were faster than the car in front. Overall, it was not the weekend we had prepared for. There’s nothing to do but put this weekend behind us and look forward to our season finale in Abu Dhabi.”

That event is scheduled for Nov. 24-26 at the Yas Marina Circuit in the United Arab Emirates.

George Russell sewed up the driver championship in Spain. Tveter is currently eighth in the point standings.

Tveter uses his racing program to support several not-for-profit groups: Right To Play, MTV Staying Alive, and the Lessons for Life Foundation.

For more information see RyanTveter.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. The series' Web site, which hosts a live timing and scoring feed, is at gp3series.com. Trident's Web site is at tridentmotorsport.com.