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Support for F2 joker Niels Koolen: 'I'm very happy he's here'
- Ludo van Denderen
Until recently, hardly anyone in the motorsport world knew who Niels Koolen is. The AIX Racing driver has been active in Formula 2 for two weeks and he has made a name for himself. Although not in a positive way: In free practice in Baku, the 23-year-old was 10 seconds slower than the fastest driver, in qualifying he was almost seven second shy. He was 77 seconds off the lead at one point in the sprint. The fact his teammate Joshua Durksen won the race makes Koolen's performance all the more painful.
AIX Racing is the smallest team in Formula 2 and they have to be careful with their spending. The team was, therefore, delighted when Niels Koolen came forward recently, asking if he could replace Taylor Barnard. The huge pt of money brought by Koolen's rich dad then did the trick.
Durksen supports Koolen
Now in his second race weekend, it is clear that Koolen is not a super talent. Yet teammate Durksen does not speak ill of him, as GPblog asked the Paraguayan about the Dutchman. " I'm really happy to have [my teammate] because it's a big jump [from Indy NXT] that he's doing well. And of course, the focus for him is to get laps done, to get kilometres because it’s a big jump he’s done. The most important is to do laps. It was the same situation with me. Luckily, I could do the post-season test, so I had three days of testing to get used to the F2 car. He has only now, this is his second weekend and only one free practise. And then on to qualifying. I'm also trying to help him and we can work together as a team."
Durksen was able to celebrate the biggest success of his F2 career in Azerbaijan on Saturday, with a convincing win in the sprint race. An extra impressive achievement because of AIX's modest resources. "Of course, it means a lot for the team because last year they had a really tough year," Durksen stated.
"Of course, the team is just really happy. I think we connect pretty well. We have a really good relationship. I think we understand each other pretty well. And I think this is the combination that you need to, of course, make things happen. I really understand what I need from the car, and I understand their point of view. And I think we're matching pretty well," Durksen said.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton
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