Gerrard Xie continued his strong run of form by finishing third in the Formula 3 (F3) Sprint Race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, securing his second podium across the opening three rounds of the season.
The DAMS Lucas Oil driver started from reverse-grid pole and made a strong launch to retain the lead into Turn 1. James Wharton settled into second ahead of Freddie Slater, while Xie controlled the early stages from the front.
Wharton moved past Xie for the lead on Lap 5 as the pole-sitter began to struggle with his tyres. Xie later lost second to Slater, but he remained in the podium places and resisted Tuukka Taponen’s pressure after the race’s two Safety Car periods.
Speaking in a press conference attended by Pit Debrief and select media, Xie admitted that he would not have expected such a productive start to the campaign after the difficulties he faced during the previous season.
“Yeah, first of all, a big thanks to the team for the car. If you’d asked me at the end of last year if I would be on two podiums in, like, three rounds, I would have said, ‘You’re joking.’”
“But no, a massive thank you to the team and to everyone who supported me.”
Xie struggled as tyre degradation increased
Xie defended the lead through the opening laps of the F3 Sprint Race in Barcelona, while Wharton and Slater remained close behind. He said the drivers raced firmly but fairly before tyre degradation began to limit his performance.
“No, at the start, I think it was really, really nice. I think we all raced hard but fair.”
“By the end, I sort of hit the cliff first, and then I started to drop a little bit. But then I was like, ‘OK, now I need to try to follow.’”
“But at the end, I think the Safety Car helped me a bit with the degradation. Then I sort of came back at the end of the race.”
The first Safety Car came after Ernesto Rivera suffered a loss of power and stopped away from the racing line. A second neutralisation followed when Ugo Ugochukwu became beached in the gravel after attempting to attack Enzo Deligny at Turn 3.
Those interruptions reduced the amount of sustained green-flag running and helped Xie preserve enough tyre life to remain competitive when the race resumed.
Left-front tyre made turning increasingly difficult
Barcelona’s heat and high-energy corners placed significant strain on the tyres throughout the Sprint Race. Xie said the left-front tyre caused the greatest problem on his DAMS car, particularly during the final laps.
“Yeah, I think tomorrow will definitely be cooler because we start a bit earlier. But we’ll see how the degradation is.”
“But even today, with two Safety Cars, the degradation was quite insane, like we discussed. So, we’ll see tomorrow.”
When asked which part of the car had suffered most, he added:
“I think, for me, mostly the left front. At the end, in the last few laps, I was struggling a lot to turn to the right.”
Despite those difficulties, Xie recovered enough pace after the final restart to place Slater under pressure for second. Wharton had already moved clear at the front, while Taponen remained close enough to challenge Xie for the final podium position. (Pit Debrief)
Wharton eventually took his first victory of the season, with Slater holding on to second and Xie completing the podium in third. (Pit Debrief)
Xie says second season has improved his preparation
When asked by Pit Debrief about the biggest lesson he had learned across the opening rounds, Xie pointed to the value of returning for a second F3 campaign.
The championship’s limited practice format gives drivers few opportunities to understand the car and circuit before qualifying. Xie explained that his previous experience had helped him use those laps more effectively and extract stronger results.
“So, obviously, James and I were here last year. We probably know how it works because, every race weekend, you only have probably three pushes in FP, maximum.”
“And then you go straight to qualifying, and you have probably three times to maximise what you have. Now that we’ve been here for a second year, I think we just have a bit more experience, and we can manage to maximise the result a bit more.”
That growing understanding had already translated into two podium finishes in three rounds. While Xie could not convert pole into victory in Barcelona, he managed the changing circumstances and protected third place when his tyres began to fade.
The result offered further evidence of the progress he and DAMS Lucas Oil had made since the end of the previous campaign.
