This weekend Arthur Rogeon starts his first race at the wheel of a single-seater!
This time it’s for real! After a hard-working winter, Arthur Rogeon is about to set off for Cheshire and the Oulton Park circuit in England where he will make his motor racing debut this Easter weekend. The young driver from Laval is entered for the GB3 Championship, the top-tier single-seater category in England. He has already put on very promising displays during testing at five of the seven circuits on the championship calendar. But nothing can replace racing and the Chris Dittmann Racing driver’s main aim is to complete his skill set while being ready to pounce on the right opportunities.
The first tests last November helped to underscore Arthur’s potential in what was a totally new environment for him. After that, each one had time to reflect and they reached an agreement to establish the programme for the season.
Since the start of the year, the objectives are no longer the same. The aim of the 10 days spent at Oulton Park, Silverstone, Snetterton, Donington and Spa-Francorchamps was to help him to get fully acquainted with the car, learn the circuits and build up speed.
Taking as an example his last outing at Spa-Francorchamps, Arthur explains to us the way a typical day’s running unfolded. “I discovered a fabulous track at Spa. We had five 45-minute sessions available. These are interrupted as soon as a driver has a problem on the circuit. In the first two, I focused on learning the lines and the ideal speed to take each corner. Between two sessions the engineer, the other drivers and I go into the truck to analyse the data and the videos. I’m lucky enough to have a team-mate who was already racing in GB3 last year and his experience helped me to progress. We shod new tyres in the third and fifth sessions in which I set the third-fastest lap, only six-tenths off the benchmark time.”
He also set other promising times during the media days at Donington (6th, 3/10s off) and Oulton Park (fastest in the rain!). But Arthur downplayed this feat: “You’ve got to be careful as there’s still a lot to learn. I practised standing starts, but it’s never the same as when there’s a full grid. And in terms of traffic and racing in the pack, it’s not really like what I knew in karting.”
The traditional Easter meeting at Oulton Park comprises a 20-minute qualifying session and three races, which will be live streamed. Happy Easter!