News

• 9th place and DNF for Jake Hughes, 21st and 26th for Keyvan Andres, 22nd and 20th for Bent Viscaal
• Bent Viscaal: "There was definitely potential for a better result."
• Jake Hughes: "That was my weakest race weekend of the season."
• Keyvan Andres: „The race pace was basically there, and the development of the car is progressing positively.“
• Thomas Strick: "All three drove courageously. When you do that, you sometimes make mistakes."

Silverstone, 14th July 2019 – HWA RACELAB headed to Spielberg hero Jake Hughes' home round in Silverstone on the back of the team's first victory in the FIA Formula 3 Championship. The Brit started the first of the two 40-minute races from tenth on the grid on Saturday. As he has so often this season, he made another good start and promptly climbed a position. However, Jake then struggled to make more progress over the course of the rest of the race. His attempts to up his race pace were first thwarted by a virtual safety car phase, then by a longer actual safety car phase. When the racing finally resumed on lap 16, the priority was to secure ninth place. Jake did so with a focussed drive that earned him and HWA RACELAB another two points in the championship standings.

Bent Viscaal (Netherlands) started very well. Starting from 25th, he produced several skilful overtaking manoeuvres and had already worked his way into 18th place by lap five and 16th by lap eleven. However, the safety car stopped the Dutchman's fightback in its tracks. He was forced to cruise round for five laps. When the race resumed, Bent no longer had the pace he did before and ultimately dropped back to 22nd place.

Keyvan Andres (Iran) also made a fine start and battled his way into the top 20 from 23rd on the grid. In the end, he too was unable to sustain the pace he showed at the start of the race and eventually crossed the finish line in 21st place.

Sunday was a day to forget for the three young HWA RACELAB drivers. Jake Hughes lost a position at the start, but soon benefitted from a mistake by Saturday's winner Juri Vips (Hitech Grand Prix) and climbed back into ninth place. He surrendered that position to Vips on lap nine as a gap opened up to the points positions - the top eight. Jake showed consistent pace, allowing him to gradually close in on the coveted top positions. Vips once again came off the track and allowed Jake to retake ninth place ahead of him. Vips was then overly aggressive in attempting to regain that position on lap 18. He tried to pass on the inside, but in doing so cut Jake, who was on the racing line, up. Jake's car was levered into the air by the front wheels and catapulted off the track, meaning the end of his race.

Keyvan Andres and Bent Viscaal tried valiantly to make up ground from the back of the grid, but had some bad luck. Keyvan was penalised for not taking up his starting position correctly after the formation lap. His progress from 21st to 18th ultimately went unrewarded. The race officials handed him a ten-second penalty, which saw him drop to the back of the field. He eventually crossed the finish line in 26th place.

Bent, who started from 22nd, attempted to quickly make up ground, but took one risk too many. He made a mistake under braking and ran off onto the grass. The Dutchman dropped back to 26th and could ultimately do no better than 20th on Sunday.

Quotes on the race weekend

Bent Viscaal (19, Netherlands, car number 10), 22nd and 20th place
"That was a disappointing result here for me. The positive thing is that there was definitely potential for a better result - you could see that on both days. However, it was not meant to be. We will bounce back at the Hungaroring."

Jake Hughes (25, Great Britain, car number 11), 9th place and DNF
"Unfortunately, that was my weakest race weekend of the season so far. I did not manage to challenge at the very front of the field this time, but I will learn my lessons from the weekend. In particular, I must learn from my mistakes in qualifying, in order to start from further up the grid next time. The races were not easy, starting from where I did. Then I was taken out by another driver today. At least I picked up some points on Saturday. I am sure that I will return to the kind of form I showed in the early races."

Keyvan Andres (19, Iran, car number 12), 21st and 26th place
"It was a tough weekend for me and the team. The race pace was basically there, and the development of the car is still progressing positively. However, the first race showed that it is not easy to overtake here. In my opinion, I did not deserve the stop-and-go penalty I was given today. My race was over after that."

Thomas Strick, Team Principal HWA RACELAB
"The weekend here in Silverstone could have been better, there is no question about that. I cannot blame the guys, however. All three drove courageously. When you do that, you sometimes make mistakes. They are young drivers and will learn from it. I am sure that we are going to have a lot of joy with them. Jake was unlucky today. He was forced out of the race through no fault of his own. When it comes down to it, we have scored points again here as a new team. That is what counts."

Result of race one, Saturday 13th July:
1st Juri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 41:12.477
9th Jake Hughes HWA RACELAB 41:19.782
21st Keyvan Andres HWA RACELAB 41:33.046
22nd Bent Viscaal HWA RACELAB 41:33.745

Result of race two, Sunday 14th July:
1st Leonardo Pulcini Hitech Grand Prix 35:57.713
20th Bent Viscaal HWA RACELAB 36:28.680
26th Keyvan Andres HWA RACELAB 37:00.281
DNF Jake Hughes HWA RACELAB DNF

Preview
The next races In the FIA Formula 3 Championship will take place on 3rd and 4th August at the Hungaroring.