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British F3 champions Hitech Racing
concluded the final day of official testing at Croft circuit yesterday, with
Austrian Philip Eng posting the fourth quickest time of the afternoon, in his
first outing in a 2008 specification F3 car. His countryman Walter Grubmüller
also started well but was unlucky to suffer with an engine problem in the
afternoon. This put paid to his chances of repeating his impressive performance
last time out at the North Yorkshire track.
The day’s final session, in
preparation for the next round of the British Formula 3 International Series
later this month, was held in dry conditions and resulted in the fastest overall
time for sophomore Atte Mustonen. Esteban Guerrieri, also in his second season
in Formula 3, was second quickest with 23 year-old McLaren Autosport BRDC Young
Driver finalist Nick Tandy third.
Nineteen year-old Grubmüller, in
his second season racing with the Buckingham-based team, had enjoyed a
successful start to the test, posting the tenth quickest time in the
morning. He was unable to run in the
afternoon session but remains positive ahead of next week’s two days at
Snetterton. “I guess it was quite good but obviously ultimately disappointing to
have the engine let go.
“The times were coming down so
it’s a bit of shame as I know there was some more time to come. I’m not too worried though, we have another
couple of days next week before we go to Croft and I’m reasonably confident that
by the time we go into qualifying for the next round we’ll be back in a good
position.”
“For Walter it was very
disappointing in the afternoon on day two,” said Team Principle David Hayle.
“Once again he was right on the pace and the lap times were steadily coming
down. We were looking forward to another
top six fastest time but just as he put on new tyres then we had an engine
problem.”
For 18 year-old Eng, the 2007
Formula BMW World Final winner, the test was his first ever run in a current F3
car and he was quick to praise Hitech and David Hayle for the opportunity. “I
really enjoyed working with the Hitech team and in particular my engineer David
Hayle.
“They taught me a lot not just
about the technical side but also on the driving side which I know will help me
when I race in the German series. It was
my very first time in an ’08 spec car and I improved a lot throughout the two
days. I think everyone in the team
should be happy with the performance which resulted in the sixth quickest time
overall, I would definitely like to race with Hitech at some point this season,
I just have to wait for a decision from my sponsors.”
David Hayle was equally happy with
the performance of the teenager currently competing in the German Formula 3
Championship: “It was a reasonably successful test in that Philip did a great
job on his first ever time in a new car. He was quick from the start and
steadily improved over the two days. I would have liked to have seen what he
could do on another set of new tyres!”
The Hitech Racing team will resume
testing at Snetterton in Norfolk next Tuesday and
Wednesday.
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