Chris Dittmann Racing’s rookie newcomer Arthur Rogeon may have only left Oulton Park with a handful of points, but that doesn’t reflect the true nature of his first ever car racing event.
Having graduated straight out of karting into the UK’s top single-seater series, the Frenchman’s raw pace was on show, setting the ninth fastest time in his maiden qualifying session, and only just over half a second away from pole position.
Despite being the only car racing newcomer on the grid, Rogeon still felt there was time to be found though, and a higher position potentially on offer.
“Qualifying felt good, but I think if I had managed to put all my fast sectors in the same lap, I could have been two tenths up” he reckoned.
That two tenth gain would have put him inside the top-five in qualifying, a remarkable achievement considering his lack of experience.
His pace was again on show in the opening race, running as high as sixth though jumping the lights at the start by a fraction necessitated a penalty that dropped him down the order.
“Overall I’m happy with how it went. Unfortunately in the first race I made a jump start, so I ended up with a ten second time penalty. In the race I managed my speed well and kept up with the cars around me.
“It was only on the restart that I made a small mistake and fell back a bit. The car behind me tried to make a move on me and touched my left rear wheel, leaving me with a puncture.
“We definitely have good pace, as without the penalty, I would have finished sixth. I’m really happy with that as it was my first ever race in single-seaters, so I don’t think we could have asked for more.”
Wet weather descended on the main Monday raceday, and left Rogeon battling largely unfamiliar conditions. Well in the mid-pack for the second race, he lost his front wing and therefore any chances of a good result, while an incident wiped him out of the final encounter having gained six positions in the opening laps.
Despite the difficult race day, the proven pace puts Rogeon in a positive frame of mind heading to Silverstone next month.
“I had a good start [to race two] and was up one position before coming into contact with another car and getting damage. My front wing was broken but later it completely detached.
“For race three we chose to put the slicks on, as it had been wet but was drying out. I had a great start and had made up a lot of places on the first lap.
“Coming up to Island, in normal dry conditions it’s a flat corner but it was tricky in these conditions. I braked very early going into the bend but drove into the car in front and ended up in the wall. That was a disappointing end to the weekend, but a lot of lessons learned for next time.”