Dennis Hauger besteg seierspallen hele tre ganger under helgens runde av FIA Formel 3-mesterskap i Østerrike
Det ble både seier, andreplass og tredjeplass på Dennis Hauger på Red Bull Ring. Han har dermed tatt et hardt og viktig grep om sammenlagtledelsen i mesterskapet. Dennis står nå med 115 poeng etter at tre runder og ni finaler er kjørt. På en andreplass følger nok en nordisk fører, danske Fredrik Vesti med 74 poeng. Jack Doohan er på tredjeplass med 72 poeng.
Neste runde i FIA F3 er nå i Budapest 30. juli til 1. august.
PRESSEMELDING FRA RED BULL JR TEAM:
 #1 Dennis Hauger (NOR – Prema Dallara Mecachrome)Qualifying: 1st – Race 1 Grid reverse top 12 Quali: 12th –2 Race 1 Result: 1st Race 2 Grid reverse top 12 Race 1: 12th – Race 2 Result: 3rd Race 3 Quali Grid: 1st – Race 3 Result: 2nd FIA F3 Championship position: 1st – 115 points – after 9 of 21 races
Dennis Hauger put together another super cool F3 weekend, took pole position, came from P12 to claim 1st in Race 1 and 3rd in Race 2, then was 2nd in Race 3. Denied a good chance of winning Spielberg Race 3 by two late Safety Car periods the Red Bull Junior still handsomely extended his points lead. Jack Doohan, the 18-year-old Australian, also claimed a podium but didn’t take the battle to the 18-year-old Norwegian in the same way as he did in France thanks to some rough luck. Jak Crawford, Jonny Edgar and Ayumu Iwasa all showed pace and determination.
Hauger always up front “In Free Practice we weren’t the strongest but in Qualifying we fixed what we needed to work on and we knew we had the pace. It was a really close Qualifying but in the end we poled it so we were really happy with that obviously.” “Race 1 and 2 from starting P12 in both… I didn’t expect it but on the Red Bull Ring you have such a DRS train the whole way that when there is some degradation you can really make a difference if you keep it clean in the beginning.” “So I had a lot of fun with some overtakes and in the end some really really good points in the championship, especially compared to the guys we were battling with.” “Race 3 didn’t end quite the way we wanted, I was just trying to stay behind, in the DRS and make a move close to the end, minimise the racing time on the tyres and get away from the guys behind.” “Then I think we were a bit unlucky with the Virtual Safety Car right at the end, that messed it up for us. I was a bit unlucky with the pace when it ended and lost momentum going into the last lap but over the weekend the pace was definitely there and we can be very happy with that.” “A really good event, I think it was a mixture of everything, the car felt really comfortable on this track and I felt comfortable, the guys did a great job and we just have to keep pushing forward, with the set-up and myself with my driving.”
Doohan fast but very unlucky “On Friday we were rapid, real quick. In Free Practice quickest by 2 tenths but had the lap taken away for a small track limits infringement. Never the less we were clearly really quick.” “The same went for Qualifying, I was 3 and a half tenths up on the Pole lap when I got traffic in the last 2 turns. So the pace was there but unfortunately ended up 7th because of that. But I think it was quite clear that we were the quickest on Friday.” “On Saturday it was not going too bad, I think we were in 6th, I got ran into my side by an MP car, by Martins, he locked up, lost control of his car and that bent my rear track rod. 2 laps later he out braked himself and ran into the back of my car, snapping my rear diffuser. Then it was just damage limitation and luckily we still ended up 7th, 3rd after penalties.” ”Then Race 2, not so bad, the car balance was good but we had a bit a mystery on speed and I couldn’t do much on the straights, I came in 7th after starting 10th.” “Today we tried to go lower downforce to find a bit of speed, I was even trying to squeeze down in the car to help the aero, that is the extent we were going to. I made a good start, got up to 6th, but without the DRS I couldn’t stay with the cars in front.” “I lost a few positions but some cars went out and I was 6th, I made the overtake for 5th. Then I had no DRS so when Nannini cam back at me I was thinking about racing for the title and let him have the position as I knew that I could get him back again. Then another car ran into the back of me and gave me a puncture.” “I did the best the best job I possibly could but that’s not enough in this game, you need your stars to align and unfortunately they didn’t this weekend.” Edgar well in the points again
“I had to wait for my chances more, it was clear that being so competitive some people were going to make mistakes and so I concentrated on keeping out of trouble myself and gaining when anyone did make a mistake.” “We had the data from the test to go on here so I think we are going a little bit in a different direction to where we were in Paul Ricard and I hope the next races can be better, we are still looking for more pace.” “Quali could have been better, the first run was OK but I didn’t get the right warm up for the second run so if I braked hard I was locking up so we missed a bit there.” Iwasa fast in the races “Yes it was a good weekend, but we just had speed in the races” said the 19-year-old Japanese with a grin. “In Free Practice my pace was not good. Also in Quali. My teammate Jak (Crawford) was really quick, top 5 but I was P19.” “I had to improve a lot, with the car and my driving also, both sides.” “Then for the race performance I could improve a lot from my driving side and also the car was very good in race set.up.” “Race 1 was very unlucky for me, I was given a penalty but both Race 1 and 2 were very good practice for overtaking.” “So with that I learnt a lot and could improve for Race 3 and get a good result.”
Crawford with pace but no luck “A weekend that could have been,» explained the 16-year-old American. «In Free Practice I was right there, just 4/1000s off the top and right from there we had really good speed and a really good car.” “In the Qualifying it was really unfortunate. After Run 1, we were 2nd, for Run 2 I was 5th overall, I encountered traffic at the end when I was improving, 1 and half tenths on the quickest lap so Pole was definitely potentially there for sure.” “A bit unfortunate but at least we were still up there. Better than the other rounds, I was able to get it together and get in the top 5 for Qualifying.” “Race 1 was quite difficult and fun. I would say it is quite difficult to race at this track because of all the DRS zones. I got off to a slowish start but after that the pace was really good. I started to gain on the others and in the end I was 5th. But then unfortunately I got a penalty for an incident, not really my fault, I was forced off track, I kept my position but was said to have gained and advantage by going off track. That was super unfortunate because there were a lot of track limit penalties and otherwise I would have ended up P2.” “So I started 5th for Race 2. I got up to 2nd after the Safety Car restart. Then the unluckiest thing happened, I was chasing down the leader, was about to get in the DRS and then I lost all compression in the engine and it basically died. Nothing I or the team could do. Really a shame, we were in the fight to win that one.” “Race 3 starting 5th again, I had a decent start and was up into 4th. Others were on new tyres and I just didn’t have the pace to hold that position. Also with the engine change we had to make overnight we don’t think the engine was that powerful so that didn’t help.” “I was still picking up the pieces of incidents and I was in 5th with 6 laps to go. Then with the Safety Car restart I lost the DRS and with 2 or 3 laps to go I made an unfortunate contact, I don’t know my view at the moment, I’d say 50/50. I lost my wing.” “Kind of a weekend to forget but the speed was always top 3, top 5… but in the end we only walked away with a few points which is very sad as I think it could have been a 30 point weekend. Quite sad, a bit unlucky but at least we know the pace is there.” |