Vicky Piria has plenty to celebrate finishing 9th Overall in the first ever single-seater F3 Championship Series for Women bringing the Italian automatic placement in 2020 WSeries.
With tentative start, Vicky put paid to ‘it’s not over til the chequered’, as #11 settled into the inaugural WSeries season, making adjustments where needed, given Vicky had been off grid racing for past 5 years.
And stat is not easily or quickly resolved. It takes time to lock into drivers speed potential against 17 competitors who had plenty of race-time under their helmet.
Not willing to let race results come when ready, Vicky remained proactive to ramp-up her game on track- in Free Practice sessions, during racing from Race 1 at Hockenheim finishing 15th all the way to Final Race at Brands Hatch finishing 6th.
As Vicky states: ‘Yes indeed. Personally it has for sure been a rollercoaster ride. I started the championship knowing I had the speed and skill but wasn’t sure how long it would take me to be “back” after 5 years not racing. I guess from Race 3 in Misano I was back to myself and have been improving ever since’.
‘Professionally it was also challenging as it’s a championship run in a completely different way as we are all under the same team, Hitech, but I do believe that is a good thing’.
Notwithstanding the different one Team set-up which Vicky moulded into, the opportunity to race in WSeries was worth weight in gold providing Piria full racing and mechanical support, data logs, promotion, and experiences to develop skills as F3 driver.
Which is massive boost to enabling drivers to concentrate on where improvement lies, pin-pointing the positives and negatives of race performance all the while having appreciation of actually enjoying the whole experience.
No more so than Vicky’s thoughts heading into Final Race at Brands Hatch: ‘8th and 10th today in Brands Hatch free practices. First time here and what a track! Positive things and some stuff to work on for a good day tomorrow! Let’s end this in the best way possible ♥️’
Such comments just shows how far self-belief can boost confidence levels, no matter where a driver is placed on the grid.
For Vicky: ‘I do not like to settle on results and my goal was to be top 5 consistently. Obviously it did not always go well but for sure race by race I always got more confident with the car and my driving. I feel like I am a better driver now and can’t wait for next season’.
Knowing areas of racing which have improved, and what is to be worked on, Vicky embraces excellent result of first WSeries Championship, moving up the points table as the season progressed with top 5 result at Misano and 6th at Brands Hatch.
#11: ‘For sure my pace on wet conditions and capacity to defend and attack during the races has always been great. I need to work a bit more on my starts’.
And with super happy result of 9th Overall in 2019 WSeries, Vicky has plenty to smile about knowing #11 2020 race season has already been confirmed, including all expenses covered by promoters.
#11: ‘For sure it’s an amazing thing. I can focus in advance on training and preparation and it’s also a huge mental relief knowing I do not have to run around to hunt for sponsors’.
‘August has given me much needed down-time while this winter I need to focus on working and preparing. I’d really like to do some other racing also to be in the best shape possible but we will see’.
Words: Sharon Cox.
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