Nikola Sredojević

146 drivers came to Oppenrod to race in 7 different categories on Sunday, 23^rd May, among them 7 times F1 world champion Michael Schumacher. “Real life” motorsport for Nikola for the first time. Objective was clear; finish the races and everyone is happy. However, at the end, objective was fulfilled, but Nikola was far from happy as the result is huge understatement of his potential. “I could have done much, much more than this (result)”, said obviously disappointed Nikola after 2 ill fated races, being the victim of gross misunderstanding in first and broken rear bumper in 2^nd race. Team boss, Rade Trnavac stated that he

was surprised with Nikola’s performance, as he never thought Nikola would be able to keep up with the group, let alone fighting for places considering almost non existing practice, first time on grip track and first race jitters. However, Nikola has put behind the Oppenrod disappointment and he’s looking forward to Hahn race. This time we all learnt on our mistakes and will be much better prepared for the race. He managed to immediately forgive his father for ruining his first race due to “one of those silly mistakes” that can happen when you least need them. He was grateful for his mother’s and sister’s support and that of his team, which made it easier to overcome the bitter taste of disappointment.

FRIDAY PRACTICE

Friday was Nikola’s first time at the “real” track in real-life conditions. On first outing, demanding track of Oppenrod caused some frustrations for Nikola, as he was struggling to find the balance, losing time due to rear end control problems. However, team managed to find better settings and Nikola was getting more confident so he took about 1 second of his initial time in 2^nd and 3^rd outing. Things were getting better in 4^th and final outing, but as the practice became quite heated and looked more like a race, 3-kart collision made it a day for Nikola, as his kart had to undergo some repairs. Regardless of progress he made, he was far from happy with his day and was looking in possibilities of improving on Saturday.

SATURDAY PRACTICE

Saturday practice has been an improvement. More and more, Nikola was finding the balance and getting better times. He realized that the grip track, that he was not used to, will be a hard nut to break, but at not a single point of time any thought of giving up crossed his mind. Very soon he started logging times that are competitive and quite few eyebrows lifted. On few occasions there was some real battle going on and only one spin was the “damage” of the day. It was a bit of disappointment the weight take after the practice and tenth or two of Nikola’s time can be blamed on that. However, triple hairpin before start/stop straight seems to be the area where improvement is needed. Practice, which in Nikola’s case is almost nonexistent, is the key word.

SUNDAY PRACTICE AND QUALIFIER

Back on the track, Nikola looked confident in the last official practice, but during the qualifier, he drove almost 4 tenths slower than during Saturday practice. However, placing himself 10^th on the grid, he surprised even most optimistic and he looked good to race. Great start for probably the youngest and least experienced on his first race. 

RACE 1

First race started with a disaster misunderstanding. In all that pressure and preparations, Nikola was not clearly told that the start was a “rolling start” and not “from the grid”, so after formation lap, he stopped at the grid as wrongly instructed. That cost him the 6 places he earned in qualifier and he started a chase from the last place. After 11 laps he managed to climb to 13^th position as he was continuously blocked by one driver which prevented him from progressing more up to the top 10. He was devastated with the outcome, but managed to keep his composure and concentrate for the 2^nd race.

RACE 2

Starting from P13 meant there was lot of job to do to make it a decent race. He started just fine and after 1 lap got up to P9 when he was hit from the back by a driver who was too slow to react when they met the traffic. Nikola’s rear bumper right holder broke and it was hanging on one holder. He continued racing attacking for P8, but the race control showed him off to pit lane for repairs.  Over a minute delay, cost him a lap and he chose to drive out and finish the race as it was a target for the weekend. However, bitter taste will take time to disappear, as he knows his possibilities are much better than the result. Two blows in one day was much to swallow, but he recovered quickly knowing that there is nothing he could do, but concentrate on the next race.

Regardless of all the mess and poor result, Nikola was well noticed and we do expect next race optimistic that he will be better luck and let his potential show for what it is.

See the photographs from Oppenrod here.