Strong start for Hitech at Hockenheim

Strong start for Hitech at Hockenheim

Hitech Racing made a solid start to the second of back-to-back Cooper Tires British F3 International Series meetings at Hockenheim, with Gabriel Dias and Will Buller both inside the top four in qualifying at the German circuit.

The team headed to Germany in high spirits after an impressive showing last weekend at Magny-Cours and Gabriel was quickly up to speed as he lapped strongly during practice.

The Brazilian then posted the second quickest time behind Jean-Eric Vergne in qualifying to secure a place on the front row of the grid for the third race of the weekend, while his second best time will also see him line up on the front row for race one on Saturday.

“The car was great and the team was working well so we were able to have a good qualifying session,” he said. “The gap isn’t as big as it seems to Vergne out front so were are looking to have three good races and try to score as many points as we can. I hope we can match Vergne in the races but we have to just focus on our own job and see what happens.”

Team-mate Will was left with more work to do heading into qualifying after struggling to match Gabriel’s pace, but a strong showing in the session saw him secure fourth on the grid for both race one and race three – despite losing out when qualifying was briefly halted following an incident involving Alex Brundle.

However, he was then stripped of his second quickest time for exceeding the track limits, which means he will start race one from eighth place.

“It’s a great achievement from the team to have gone as quickly as we did in qualifying as we were off the pace in practice,” he said. “I lost out a bit when the red flag came out as I’d pitted early for new tyres and had just got them warmed up when the session was stopped so they weren’t then at their best. I should have been fourth on the grid for both races but was given a penalty for exceeding the track limits which I feel was unfair, bit I am still in a position to do well.

“We always knew we had the speed but now I have some podium finishes under my belt and a good qualifying session here, I’m hoping for even better results and maybe we can improve on the third places I got in France.”

Hitech boss Ryan Sharp was pleased with continued improvement from his Buckingham-based team, although he admitted that there was disappointment at the team being penalised for the second meeting in a row. Gabriel had won the second race at Magny-Cours last weekend before being demoted down the order when he was deemed to have jumped the start.

“Second and fourth in qualifying is another good step forwards for us and we have made an improvement for the fourth successive meeting,” he said. “However, the gap to Vergne is still too large as he seems to have mastered qualifying, so we have to keep pushing to challenge him more at Rockingham.

“Both drivers did well in qualifying. Gabriel has been on it all weekend and did a great job to secure a place on the front row and Will also pulled out some quick laps after a more difficult time in practice. Unfortunately, we have lost out for the second successive weekend to an incorrect decision from the Stewards after they decided Will had run off the circuit on a quick lap even though the video evidence showed he didn’t. It’s a similar situation to last week when Gabriel was robbed of a victory at Magny-Cours for a jump start when the onboard footage showed he hadn’t.

“That’s a shame once again, but we are in a good position to pick up some solid results in the three races.”