Double podium for Hitech!
Saturday, 22nd May 2010
Double podium for Hitech!
Hitech Racing secured its best finish of the British F3 season in the opening race at Magny-Cours, with Gabriel Dias and Will Buller both finishing on the podium.
Gabriel had qualified fourth on the grid for the first race but jumped up to second on the opening lap behind Fortec driver Oli Webb after polesitter Jean-Eric Vergne was slow away.
A solid drive from that point onwards allowed Gabriel to pick up his second podium finish of the campaign and move up to fifth in the championship standings.
“A double podium is a great result for the team,” he said. “I made a good start to get up to second and that is often where the race is decided. We didn’t quite have the pace to keep up with Webb but I was comfortable in second and Will did a great job to keep Vergne behind him.
“Second is really good for me after the engine let go in testing yesterday. We could have let our heads drop but we looked at the data to get a good set-up for qualifying and that helped us to secure a place on the podium.”
Will meanwhile enjoyed his best showing of the season as he took his place on the British F3 podium for the first time.
Like Gabriel, he made up two places at the start to lie third and then produced a fine performance to hold off the challenge of championship leader Vergne – who had dropped back at the start - for the majority of the 19 lap race. Will sits tenth in the standings heading into the final two races of the weekend on Sunday.
“I’m pleased to get on the British F3 podium for the first time,” Will said afterwards. “I got a good start to make up a few places and then tried to pace myself because I knew there was a long way to go. I started to catch Gabriel but I had Vergne all over me and I had to work to keep him behind. To go from fifth to third is good for me and a double podium is great for the team.”
The double podium for Hitech came on the back of the most impressive qualifying performance of the season, and with both drivers starting near the front of the field for the two remaining races on Sunday, team boss Ryan Sharp said he was hopeful that the form shown so far will continue.
“To get our first double podium is a great result,” he said. “Gabriel made a good start and put in a controlled drive although he didn’t quite have the pace to match Webb. Will had a mega drive to stay ahead of Vergne for third place and the way he held him off was really impressive.
“We might still be lacking a little bit of pace but we’ll keep on working hard and hopefully we can take the fight to Webb and Vergne even more in tomorrow’s races.”
