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Dragon Racing driver Loic Duval believes that third was the maximum he could have achieved in today’s race, on the back of a double podium finish with team-mate Jerome D’Ambrosio.
Duval had been running in second for the majority of the race, but with less power than a fast-charging Sam Bird, who had pitted a lap later, Duval could not hold off the advances of the British driver.
“Since this morning we were really competitive so it was a good race, a good start,” Duval said. “Sam was flying in the races this weekend – he overtook me twice in the same position yesterday and today.”
Duval also lost out to D’Ambrosio after the pass from Bird, and was forced into a spell of critical energy saving in the final laps.
He added: “When Sam overtook me I lost a bit of time in the chicane, and Jerome arrived a bit quicker than me. As he is my team-mate I didn’t close so much, so that was it. I had to also be careful with the energy because I used it a little bit too much in the first stint, so I had to compromise a myself little bit.
“That is the maximum we could have done in a way, and it’s a great result for the whole team.”
After competing for only part of the season in which he scored two podiums, the Frenchman remained upbeat about his campaign.
“It was not always easy – you have to work a lot with all the systems, but in the end for the team it’s a really good weekend. We finished runner-up in the teams’ championship. When I joined I think it was something like sixth, so that’s pretty cool and I really enjoyed it.”