Race Report

2014 Formel 1 Grosser Preis von Deutschland
GP3 SERIES

Circuit: Hockenheim (D), Length 4,574 km, 19^th/20^th July 2014, Rounds 7 & 8
www.hockenheimring.net

JENZER MOTORSPORT 2014:
Pal Varhaug (NOR), Mathéo Tuscher (CH) and Adderly Fong (PRC)

Tyre stories at Hockenheim

The GP3 Series met up at the popular Hockenheimring circuit, racing as one of the support races for the Formel 1 Grosser Preis von Deutschland. This was their fourth outing supporting the 2014 Grand Prix Programme.

Race One Qualifying

Saturday, 19/07/14, 09.45 – 10.15, Weather: Sunny, 27°C

The free practice session on Friday evening was very hot with a dry track. Adderly had an accident, which caused the session to be interrupted, but fortunately he was uninjured, even though the car sustained a lot of damage. Towards the end of the session neither Mathéo nor Pal could get a clear lap, which left Pal 16^th just in front of Mathéo, while Adderly was back in 24^th.
Saturday morning started hot, and the team had worked long into the night to repair Adderly’s car. In qualifying Mathéo managed to claim an excellent 9^th place on the grid, Pal was 19^th and Adderly was again 24^th.
As a result of penalties handed out after the race at Silverstone for causing avoidable accidents, the grid positions all changed afterwards. Unfortunately Pal was one of those penalised and was demoted five places on the grid.

GP3 Series

Race One (30 Minutes)

Saturday, 19/07/14, 17.20, Weather: Sunny, 34°C

The race started in very hot weather, and the first lap went well for us, Mathéo making up two places for 6^th. Pal also gained ground and was 19^th while Adderly was not much further back in 21^st. Mathéo drove several very aggressive laps and managed to keep up with the front runners until he started to come under increasing pressure from Stoneman. In the second half of the race he ran wide in one of the corners and Stoneman was through. Mathéo was now 7^th with Eriksson right on his gearbox. He ran wide again, this time losing several places. When he rejoined he was down in 15^th but there was more disappointment to come. In the final laps of the race he dropped back further, and at the end of a chaotic second half crossed the finish line in 18^th, his tyres having worn away, thus making driving more and more difficult. Pal also had an up and down sort of race, hanging on to 19^th for a long time before his team-mate passed him, then falling back as far as 22^nd, before fighting his way back up to 19^th in the later stages of the race. Of our drivers it was really only Adderly who made steady progress, making up places, avoiding the incidents, and taking care of his tyres. Some good overtaking meant he was rewarded with 15^th place at the end, our best result of the race.

The grid for the second race of the weekend was set by reversing the order of the first eight finishers in the first race, with the rest of the places set according to finishing order in the first race.

GP3 Series

Race Two (30 Minutes)

Sunday, 20/07/14, 09.25, Weather: Overcast, 24°C

Temperatures finally dropped overnight, and a coal black sky threatened rain some time in the immediate future. Despite this the whole field started on slicks, and luckily for all of them the rain didn’t start during the race. Everybody drove very defensively after yesterday’s rather alarming experience of rapidly degrading tyres. Adderly was 14th at the end of the first lap with Mathéo immediately behind him. Pal left his braking too late at the hairpin and clipped Balthasar’s rear wheel, spinning him round. Balthasar was able to continue, but Pal couldn’t, his race already over. Adderly ran wide in one corner and Mason and Sa Silva slipped past immediately, which put Mathéo just behind him. Adderly had now lost momentum, which meant Mathéo was able to get past him, moving up to 12th and leaving Adderly in 13th. In the closing stages of the race Fontana attempted to catch Adderly, but Adderly was able to defend his place for the remaining laps, which meant that Mathéo and Adderly crossed the finish line in 12th and 13th respectively.
Afterwards, 3rd place finisher Eriksson was awarded a 20 second penalty, dropping him to 15th and moving Mathéo and Adderly up a place each. Pal was also given a 5-grid place penalty for the next race as a result of his clash with Balthasar.

The next race is just in one weeks’ time at the Hungaroring (HU).

Championship standings after 8 out of 18 races:

1^st Alex Lynn (GB), 114 points; 2^nd Jimmy Eriksson (SWE), 84 points; 3^rd Marvin Kirchhofer (D), 80 points; 4^th Emil Bernstorff (GB), 73 points; 5^th Richie Stanaway (NZ), 70 points; 6^th Nick Yelloly (GB), 56 points; 9^th Mathéo Tuscher (CH), 25 points

2014 GP3 Series

For more information:

• www.gp3series.com
• www.italiaracing.net