In the south of Spain we could have hope for good weather for the final, but it rained and rained for two days on the Jerez track.
The practice sessions on friday was a good start for Anthoine and his single-seater N°22, on the Andalusian track. In second place thanks to 1 thousandth of a second in the morning in the first session, Anthoine did the tenth time without having to change tires. All the lights seemed to be green and we hoped for the best.
On saturday morning, with a menacing sky, the qualifying would define the starting positions for race 1 and 2. The tech 1 team decided to adopt the opposite strategy to Anthoine's direct rivals in the championship. As his rivals are in the starting blocks, Anthoine was immobile in his car, awaiting instructions. 10 minutes before the end of the time limit, Anthoine was instructed to start, but at that moment the rain started to fall. At that same moment Anthoine's chances for the title were fading away, and in the stands his supporters were in shock.
Despite this desperate situation, Anthoine raced two magnificent races, finishing 7th in race 1, when he started in 16th position, but then had to abandon in the second race when he was hit by a crashing car.
To save his pride, Anthoine finished with panach on sunday, in the last 2015 World Series by Renault race. After obtaining the pole position in his group with more than 7 tenths of a second advance, in the pouring rain he finished in second position with the best lap time.
This new show of talent left the supporters even more dissappointed and frustrated and resentful. Such a fighter, eliminated even before he having starting, we couldn't have imagined this even in the worst case scenario.
In Anthoine's words : "My aim was the title, not finishing 5th, and I'm obviously terribly dissappointed. We lost everything in the qualifying on Saturday with a catastrophic strategy. With hindsight it was obvious that I should have started earlier. I don't think it with up to me to anticipate this. I didn't make any driving errors, I did my job, but I didn't have all the cards in hand. The team made an error but I'm not angry. If I had made it I don't think anyone would have held it against me. It was an extremely important race for my futur, because the reward would have enabled me to consider the 2016 season without a worry, but now we are deprived and in the greatest expectation. I don't think there was much difference between the first five of the championship and I know that I could have won, I showed it all season and on Sunday."
