Double R Racing's Matt Solomon delivered a series of promising race performances in Portimao over the weekend, 5th/6th September, as the FIA Formula 3 European Championship visited the southern Portugal venue for the first time.

Running a single Dallara-Mercedes this weekend for Solomon, with team-mate Nicolas Pohler still on the sidelines after breaking his arm in training several weeks ago, the Hong Kong driver managed to chalk-up three more race finishes with a best of 21st place in race two.

Starting round 28 on Saturday morning from 26th position on the grid, Solomon put together an excellent first lap to gain four places but was then elbowed back to 24th on lap two. Hitting back straight away, he became involved in some entertaining see-saw battles just outside the top 20 and went on to finish in 21st place after one of the most competitive drives of his maiden season.

Beginning in 28th again for round 29 later in the day, Solomon moved into 26th position before the end of the first lap and climbed through into 22nd at the midway point. As in race one, the first year FIA F3 competitor produced some excellent driving and after moving into 21st place on lap 11 he broke into the top 20 prior to a second Safety Car period on the 13th tour.

Making yet more progress after the re-start to take 19th position, all looked good for Solomon’s best finish of the weekend but dramas on the penultimate lap dropped the Double R racer to an eventual finish of 24th place.

For round 30 on Sunday morning Solomon started in 28th place and after an early incident, which triggered the deployment of the Safety Car, he held 21st position at the resumption. Again racing well and battling through into 19th spot, a moment mid-race dropped Solomon to 25th and he went on to end the contest in 22nd position – albeit with pace a match for top 15 performance.

“Matt raced well this weekend, he definitely deserved better results than he ultimately got and the pace was pretty strong”, said team boss Anthony 'Boyo' Hieatt, “Qualifying has been the sticking point again, a few more tenths there and it will really open things up for some consistent midfield finishes as Matt’s racecraft and pace in the races is improving all the time.”