Double top five in France

Hitech Racing has made a positive start to the first overseas meeting of the British F3 season after Gabriel Dias and Will Buller qualified inside the top five at Magny-Cours.

Dias' weekend didn’t start well with an engine issue during Friday testing affecting his time on track, but Gabriel bounced back to post the fourth quickest time in qualifying – which puts him on the second row of the grid for race three on Sunday.

With driver’s second best times being used to decide the grid for race one, Gabriel will line up in the same position for this afternoon’s opening encounter.

“I’m happy with that and it was a good time considering it is my first time here and I had the problem yesterday,” he said. “Without that, I might have gone a bit quicker but it is better to have a problem like that in testing rather than in qualifying.

“The car was really good and we have continued to improve as a team. Getting the win at Silverstone was great and I can head into the races focused on getting as many points as possible for the championship.”

Team-mate Will arrived in France having spent more time working with the MSA thanks to his role as a member of Team UK – the initiative setup by the Motor Sport Association to bring the most promising young drivers inthe UK together in one national squad.

Like Gabriel, Will was soon up to speed on French soil and having posted the seventh quickest time in Friday testing, he qualified just a tenth of a second behind team-mate Gabriel to secure fifth on the grid for race three. His second quickest time was also good enough for fifth for race one later today.

“That wasn’t too bad although I still feel there is more in me and more in the car,” he said. “I’ve been doing some more work with the MSA which has helped me and it is better than qualifying at Silverstone where I was third quickest in qualifying but my second best time was only good enough for twelfth. Setting two quick times in qualifying is much more important and we are on the up each and every time we go out on track.

“[Jean-Eric] Vergne is racing in his back yard and will be hard to catch but there is no reason why we can’t fight for the podium and second is certainly achievable.”

The Magny-Cours qualifying session marked the best showing of the season so far from the Buckingham-based team leaving Hitech boss Ryan Sharp a happy man at the end of the session.

“Gabriel and Will were both on it straight away in practice yesterday and while Gabriel had his problem, we were able to get a lot of data from Will’s car,” he said. “Without Gabriel’s issue and loss of track time, we might have been able to do more in qualifying but we certainly can’t complain.

“It was a good positive session and to get both cars in the top five for races one and three is a solid result. We’ve taken another step forwards and although Vergne seems to be in a league of his own at the front, we certainly have the pace to fight for the podium. Having said that, it is a long race and this is the first time that we have raced in conditions as warm as it this weekend and anything can happen.”