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Hitech Racing posted the second
quickest time in testing at Rockingham on Thursday, with 16 year-old Max Chilton
just two tenths of a second off the quickest lap around the Northamptonshire
track. His team-mate Austrian Walter
Grubmüller was eighth quickest in the afternoon session but in the combined
times dropped to just outside the top ten but still ahead of his more
experienced rivals.
For the current British Formula 3
International Series champions, Thursday’s test at Rockingham again proved
invaluable with the Buckingham-based outfit continuing its ongoing development
of the new Dallara F308 Mercedes HWA.
For Grubmüller, who has been undergoing most of the work including two
days at Pembrey, the test provided useful information ahead of the next
rounds.
“We’ve spent much of the last few
days trying out a load of development bits for the car and I’m fairly happy with
how things have gone. We spent time developing bits at Pembrey and learnt a lot
which continued into Thursday at Rockingham.
We’re making improvements all the time so we’re going in the right
direction and it looks good ahead of Croft next weekend.”
The opening rounds of the series
at Oulton Park last month had 19 year-old Grubmüller immediately on the pace,
posting the third quickest time in both sessions. Reigate-based Chilton went on
to pick up the team’s first podium of the season with second place in the
opening race.
“Things weren’t going too well on
Thursday morning and I was feeling a bit down, said Max. “But then we bolted on
some development bits and straight away I went five tenths quicker. Then we put some new tyres on and went for it
and shot up to P2. On my hot lap I lost
a couple of tenths at the hairpin due to oversteer, without that I’m fairly
certain I could have been quickest. I’m
feeling fairly happy heading into the next rounds now.”
Team Principal David Hayle was
equally happy with performance of both of his drivers, “Both Walter and Max have
done a fantastic job in helping us to develop the new car. Walter had two good days at Pembrey this week
and carried everything we’ve learnt into the test at Rockingham. They were carrying out two very different
programmes, including some aerodynamic work and we’ve learnt a lot and found
some very interesting things. All of
this bodes well for Croft.”
Now the team is looking ahead to
the final test prior to the next two races at Croft in North
Yorkshire. A final test at the track on
Friday will give it some last minute data prior to qualifying on
Saturday.
Top testing times from
Rockingham
1. Marcus Ericsson Fortec
Motorsport 1:11.799
2. Max Chilton Hitech Racing
1:12.001
3. Jaime Alguersuari Carlin
Motorsport 1:12.095
4. Sergio Perez T-Sport
1:12.144
5. Nick Tandy JTR Marshall
Westland 1:12.215
6. Michael Devaney Ultimate
Motorsport 1:12.249
7. John Martin Raikkonen Robertson
Racing 1:12.263
8. Sam Abay Carlin Motorsport
1:12.307
9. Esteban Guerrieri Ultimate
Motorsport 1:12.329
10. Sebastian Hohenthal Fortec
Motorsport 1:12.362
11. Walter Grubmüller Hitech
Racing 1:12.503
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