Interview
Chambers set on ‘taking more risks’ after Zandvoort DNS spelt title misfortune
Chloe Chambers was left to rue a major missed opportunity in Zandvoort after a technical issue forced her to watch on from the pit wall as title rivals Maya Weug and Doriane Pin sailed on to the podium.
Lining up in fourth for Race 2, the Red Bull Ford driver looked to be in with a chance at clawing back some of the deficit to Standings leader Pin. However, disaster soon struck as Chambers remained stationary on the grid during the formation lap with a battery issue.
Taken back to the pits, Campos Racing attempted to restart the car but to no avail and the American was forced into an early retirement yet still remains upbeat about Round 5 as a whole.
“Generally speaking, the weekend has gone pretty decent,” she summarised. “I think that the team and I had done everything right. Obviously today was a shame, but there was nothing really that we could have done about it.
“It’s kind of the luck of the draw. Now we have to keep pushing for the rest of the year and try to make up as many points as possible from here on for the rest of the time.”
Chambers added: “You start the car on the one minute to go signal for the formation lap and then the car was not starting. Then we could get it to start with the jump battery, but then it was dying.
“You keep going because obviously you have to do the formation lap and the race start, and the car would just not run. The team has to do investigations and everything and then hopefully we’ll be able to come back in Singapore and Vegas and have some good races.”
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Adding an extra sting, Weug went on to deliver the most dominant performance of the season, while Pin profited from Ella Lloyd’s five-second penalty to move up on to the podium.
Demoted down to third in the Drivers’ Standings, 34 points adrift of Pin, the setback has meant Chambers is shifting her focus heading into the final two rounds. Concentrating on the results themselves rather than the wider title implications, the 21-year-old believes a less cautious approach is the best way forward into Singapore.
“The rest of the year, I'm just looking to keep trying to win races,” she said. “Obviously the title was what I was hoping for, but I think this misfortune has set my priorities in a different order now for the rest of the year.
“I'm more so looking at each race at its own weekend and trying to do the best in every race that I possibly can. Maybe now I can feel a little bit more confident in taking some more risks, a little bit in a way.
“Obviously I'm still third in the Standings, so still in a good spot. I think Maya and I are pretty close together now because we've both had a couple of tough weekends back-to-back with each other, so we’ve managed to trade off there. I think Maya and I will be fighting for P2 and then hopefully we'll get some points back to Doriane and go into Vegas at least with a shot of it.”