Esteban Gutierrez

Portimao, Portugal - A perfect mix of consistency and talent resulted in a successful weekend for Mexican driver Esteban Manuel Gutierrez Gutierrez, who reached the podium with a second place in the first race and then finished fifth in the second race of the British Formula 3 International.

Esteban started the first race from ninth place and by being the fastest man on the Autodromo Internacional Do Algarve did an excellent race and moved up the field to second place, crossing the finish line with a time of 30:16.864 to share the podium with his teammate Jules Bianchi, who won the race.

For the second race, Esteban was eleventh on the starting grid, but a first lap incident sent him to the back of the field, to place 25th, however the Mexican driver demonstrated his talent again and gained 20 positions to finish fifth with a race time of 31:46.620.

“I enjoyed both races very much because the track allows for good overtaking. In the first race, I climbed up from ninth to second, overtaking other cars down to the last lap”, said Esteban.

“The second race was a little more complicated as I was touched while I was on curve 3 and my car spun. Luckily, the car wasn’t badly damaged but I rejoined the race in p25 and I had to make the best out of the safety car situation”.

“Thank God I was able to climb back up to fifth place. I feel very happy and thankful to the team after the one-two result in the first race. We worked hard all weekend and it paid off when we registered the best lap of the first race and the second best lap in the second race,” remarked the driver.

This preparation event makes the ART Grand Prix driver feel more motivated towards the last stage of the Formula 3 Euroseries 2009, where there are three double race weekends still to go. The last three events of the calendar will take place in Barcelona, Spain; Dijon, France; and Hockenheim, Germany, in that order.

“We go home really happy from the experience we lived this weekend, we hope we can have more moments like these and to bring the name of Mexico to the top”, concluded the driver from Latin America.

Esteban thanks his sponsors Multigama, DeAcero, Telmex, Alpinestars, and Bell for supporting him on this stage of his career.