It was to much of the paddock’s surprise when AIX Racing announced the signing of Niels Koolen at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman had done little of note throughout his racing career so far, and his lack of accolades proved to be an indication of how he would perform in Formula 2.
In four races, he finished 19th twice, 20th, and retired once before AIX decided that the experiment was over.
Now he has found himself another cockpit in Formula 3, with the same AIX team placing their confidence in his abilities at a lower level this time.
Niels Koolen struggles in Formula 3 test at Jerez
Whilst it is only day one of the Formula 3 test that we have to go by, and it was Koolen’s first time in the machinery, other drivers were in a similar predicament too.
Aside from Formula 2, the most similar thing he has driven to an F3 car was last year’s FRECA car for Van Amersfoort Racing – where he finished 37th in the championship.
In fact, Koolen has never scored a point in European single-seater racing – he did compete in Indy NXT, and scored a best finish of 10th at Indianapolis.
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But it’s clear on the evidence of what has been seen so far that he isn’t really up to standard to race in either Formula 2 or Formula 3.
That was backed up by his performance on day one of the Jerez Formula 3 test, where he put in the 29th-best lap time out of 30 drivers.
Are things on the up for Koolen?
One thing that these timings don’t show is that there was major room for improvement after his Formula 2 stint, and the gap already appears to have closed for him.
During his last qualifying session in Formula 2, he qualified 4.4 seconds behind the nearest car and in last position for both races.
Not only was he not last in Jerez, but he was just 1.5 seconds off the pace of the leader – Martinius Stenshorne.
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One of his teammates – Javier Sagrera managed to put in a time that was eight-tenths faster and was good enough for 16th place.
But his other colleague Jose Garfias finished last, only managing to string 25 laps together after doing very little running all day.