Edwards Cements Championship Lead

Oct 25, 1998
Hockenheim, Germany – Team USA Scholarship star Paul Edwards strengthened his grip on the EFDA Formula Opel Winter Series today by taking his Team Meritus car to a hard-earned second-place finish at the famed Hockenheimring in Germany.

Fresh off his victory one week earlier in England, Edwards arrived in Germany brimming with confidence and lost no time in asserting his superiority during testing.

“The weather was good so I was able to learn the circuit in the dry and fine-tune the car to my liking,” related Edwards. “We ended up quickest in testing with a time of 1m02.8s. The next quickest was a 1m03.3s. The car was perfect and I was ready for qualifying,”

Edwards was undaunted by a sharp rain shower immediately prior to qualifying, and on wet tires was soon pacing the field.

“We were on pole with 10 minutes to go in the 30-minute session,” continued Edwards, “but by now the track was beginning to dry and it was time to put on the slick tires. I knew I had to get a clean lap to keep my pole position. I went to start my one and only flying lap on dry tires and made the mistake of not remembering to put more brake bias to the front, which resulted in locking up the rears and ruining my lap, putting me fourth on the grid. I guess you have to learn sometime!”

A fine start saw Edwards immediately jump into second place. He then passed Richard Lyons and began to close on race leader Darren Malkin.

“I reeled him in the best I could but there wasn’t enough time,” said Edwards. “I ended up second and turned the fastest lap of the race. It was another great weekend, and now we have just one more to go on the 21st of November. We have some tests lined up between now and then to find a bit more time out of me and the car to give us the best chance of taking the championship.”