GP3 Winners Conference

Budapest Post Race 2 Quotes

With:NIEDERHAUSER, ZAMPARELLI AND MARDENBOROUGH

GP3 Series: Congratulations your first win, you looked a very happy man up on the podium to be back on the top step?

Patric Niederhauser: “Yes I’m really, really happy right now. You know after having a good first year in GP3, you have really high expectations for the next year and I had a very bad year last season. We’ve had a bad start to this year and it’s very hard on your self-confidence. It just makes this win even more enjoyable because you know how hard you’ve worked for it. It didn’t come just like that. It’s a great feeling.

GP3 Series: Talk us through the start, P3 to P1 – not bad right?

Patric: “Yeh! In the end this was the key to win today. Dino had a go at me into Turn 2 but I did well on defending so that was good. We made a strong start again. At the front it’s much easier to control everything. Dino was always in a close gap so there was absolutely no room for any mistakes. But we did it!

GP3 Series: Were you pushing hard every lap or trying to conserve the tyres?

Patric: “Well both at the end. You try to push really hard but save the tyres. If you start to go too slow the driver behind you starts to smell the victory. So I pushed but tried not to make any mistakes. It worked well.”

GP3 Series: Like you have said, it has been a difficult start to the year for Arden, but this weekend in particular all three of you have had great races – what has been the turning point?

Patric: “I think we already had a big improvement in Hockenheim, for me it was just a shame that my best lap in qualifying was deleted due to track limits otherwise we would’ve been up near the top. I went back to the workshop, the guys are pushing hard as they’ve won the Series two times so they were very motivated to move forward. All this is the result of a lot of hard work. We found some extra in the car, I found some within my driving and it all came together.”

GP3 Series: A nice feeling to take into the summer break with a victory?

Patric: “Yes of course, it makes it much better when you go into a break with a win. It’s incredible, so you can really enjoy it. It’s been a hard time, I haven’t been home in what feel likes forever. I can’t wait go back home with a win and see my Mum and my girlfriend.”

GP3 Series: Comgratulations Dino, another podium, but after starting P1 and ending second are you feeling a little frustrated?

Dino Zamparelli: “Yes a little bit. I think again this weekend we had strong pace. We showed that in Free Practice and we just got a bit unlucky in qualifying with the traffic. I was P5 which certainly wasn’t a disaster but we expected to be on pole or top three at least. So it didn’t quite work out in that respect and then I fell back to eighth. It was a shame we didn’t make a better start in race one or show better pace but we had the chance to reverse that today. We did a good job but I didn’t quite get the launch that I wanted. Niederhauser a blinding start where mine was decent, I had to hold off Mardenborough. It could have been worse but it’s just a little bit frustrating not to take the win when it was on the cards. But all is good and we’ll come back stronger in Spa.”

GP3 Series: How were the tyres today – were you able to mount a challenge to Niederhauser?

Dino: “Around here it’s really tough to pass and when you get close to the driver in front, it becomes really difficult to overtake. I just tried to back off and then go for the fastest lap and push. We became very close to getting it, I believe it was just half a tenth within it. ART GP gave me a really good car all race. It was fantastic so it’s a big shame not to take the first win for me. We feel really good with the car, so there are many positives again this weekend. We’ve just to put it all together in qualifying to make it work.”

GP3 Series: You showed your pass in FP and were P1 for a large portion of qualifying, so what is the final element missing as you are very close?

Dino: “Qualifying we were just unlucky, we felt we did a good strategy, and I think my lap was good enough but traffic cost me two tenths. But we had the chance from fifth on the grid and my start wasn’t good enough. We’ve got some things to work on but the race pace was strong, my second start was good – not spectacular and I put Niederhauser under as much pressure as I could. A big thanks to Bristol Sport as always and ART GP and we’ll come back stronger in Spa and go for that first win.”

GP3 Series: Congratulations Jann, another podium for you, finishing P3 after starting P2 – how was the race for you?

Jann Mardenborough: “The race for me was ok, it was really good to get P3 and hold off Lynn. At the start I lost out to my teammate who made a really good start. I knew I had to consolidate my position seeing that tyre-wear was a big issue in race one. Today with the temperatures being cooler, I was expecting more speed but we soon found out there was a pace I could drive too and that was it. I didn’t think I would have any tyres left. The drivers in sixth and seventh were way back, it was really only the front five who were pushing on.

“Towards the end of the race it got a bit close with Lynn behind so I just tried to focus on the exits and not make any mistakes to get my second podium in seven days. It’s a really nice feeling to have, the team have worked really hard with me as a driver and improving my performance. A few weeks off to prepare for Spa. Arden did a really good job and I think Nissan will be happy with my performance too. ”

GP3 Series: Arden International have done a brilliant job with all three of you performing well in Budapest, what can you pinpoint it too?

Jann: “I think coming from Hockenheim and knowing what we learned with the car, coming here it’s a very similar situation. We just stayed in the same frame of mind and it seemed to work for all three of us. Spa is a bit different, different tyre compound so we need to do some more work on the sim and look at last year’s data with the guys in the team. We need to try and repeat this result there.”

GP3 Series: You have shown your strength in the races, but is qualifying an area you still need to work on?

Jann: “Definitely. It’s the area I need to improve on that. To be honest, I did get a little bit of traffic on my second set of tyres and I lost a few tenths, but yes in general it needs to improve. So we will work hard on that and it will make our lives so much easier come race one. My next goal is to get a race one podium.”

GP3 Series: We have the summer break now, it must be a good feeling to go into that with a rostrum and high on confidence?

Jann: “It’s really nice. I won’t have too much of a break because I’ve got Nissan contributions to do with the GT academy but it’s really good to have this break before Spa knowing we’ve done a really good job in the last two rounds. We have made really good starts and that’s one thing we’ve really got nailed down. It’s nice to have a few weeks off to reflect on what we’ve achieved.”


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