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Rising British
single-seater racer Adrian Quaife-Hobbs added to his recent tally of points with
a superb fourth and fifth place in the Formula Renault 2.0 Italia Cup. The 17
year-old from Tonbridge competed in the third and fourth rounds of the series at
Hungaroring and now lies in fifth place in the series.
Heading into the
event, his first time racing at the Hungaroring track, the BVM Minardi racer was
once again instantly on the pace, setting the fourth quickest time in both free
practice sessions. However the BRDC
Rising Star, in his first season in Formula Renault, was unable to get the best
out of his new tyres in qualifying.
Nevertheless, the teenager was able to post the eighth quickest time in
the session.
“Free practice had
gone really well,” said Adrian. “Then in qualifying the new tyres just didn’t
work and badly affected the set-up so I had to pit and switch back to the old
ones. Without that, I’m confident we could have been on the first couple of
rows.”
Race one was held
on Sunday and on a track on which it is notoriously difficult to
overtake, Adrian drove a storming opening tour, passing three cars before the
completion of the first lap. Running in fifth and on the tail of Genis Olive,
Adrian tried several
times to pass, but despite posting the races’ second fastest lap, had to settle
for fifth at the flag.
“It was a
difficult race really as it’s almost impossible to overtake here. Several times I got right up on the back of
Olive, but the trouble is when you get too close you end up losing downforce and
I had to drop back. I managed to catch
him again, and that was when I posted my fastest lap, and the second quickest in
the race.”
Another superb
start in the second race on Sunday again enabled
Adrian to move up the
order quickly, running in fourth place as the pack entered the first corner.
However an
incident brought out the safety car and as the race restarted, Olive, running in
fifth overtook Adrian whilst the safety car was still
on track, the pair running side-by-side. “I really had to let him go, we were
practically banging wheels and I thought safer to let him go as I was confident
I had the pace to catch him again.”
For several laps
Olive played a defensive game, but he was no match for Adrian who pressured him
all the way until a superb overtaking manoeuvre, gave him back his fourth
place. Over the remaining laps,
Adrian tried valiantly
to close down the gap to third placed Niky Sebastiani, posting the overall
fastest lap of the race on his way.
At the flag
however, although Adrian had reduced the
gap from five seconds to two and half, he had to settle for fourth
place.
“Race two was
good, I really had the pace and was able to gradually close the gap down, but
they were just too far ahead at the end.
It was a good weekend though and it’s another good points
haul.”
The teenager now
has two weeks off prior to his next race, the third round of the Formula Renault
2.0 Italia Cup at Brno in the
Czech
Republic.
Adrian’s next race in
the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Championship will take place at his only ‘home’
round, at Silverstone over the weekend of 6-8 June.
Results of Race
One: 1. Pal Varhaug (Jenzer Motorsport); 2. Cesar Ramos (BVM); 3. Niky
Sebastiani (It Loox Racing); 4. Genis Olive (Cram Competition); 5. Adrian
Quaife-Hobbs (BVM); 6. Patrick Kronenberger (Facondini
Racing)
Results of Race
Two: 1. Pal Varhaug (Jenzer Motorsport);
2. Cesar Ramos (BVM); 3. Niky Sebastiani (It Loox Racing); 4.Adrian Quaife-Hobbs
(BVM); 5. Genis Olive (Cram Competition), 6. Daniel Zampieri
(BVM)
Championship
positions after four rounds: 1. Varhaug 110; =2. Michele Faccin and Sebastiani
84; 4. Ramos 80; 5. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs 72; =6. Zampieri and Olive
64
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