Daniel De Jong was unlucky to miss out on a potential podium finish during round six of the AUTO GP season at the Hungaroring on Sunday, 5th May, after an unfortunate wheel-change issue during his mandatory pit-stop blunted his charge.
Marking his second appearance of the year in AUTO GP, having missed the opening rounds in March due to clashing commitments in the GP2 Series, the Manor MP Motorsport driver had to settle for two seventh place results on a weekend which, in the main, proved to be frustrating.
Beginning round five from an uncharacteristic eighth on the grid, having been in the top four during practice, the 20-year-old from Westmaas in The Netherlands was bundled back to 11th place off the start but after an early pit-stop he was able to fight through into seventh place at the finish.
Round six promised much more for Danil, starting from the front row of the reverse grid in second position and running a different set-up from race one. After a good, clean getaway the Dutchman held position before being edged back to third on lap four.
We had a difficult weekend with some ups and downs, he explained, In practice we were P4 but we stayed on the same pace in qualifying while others improved, so we ended up P8 on the grid for race one which was a bit disappointing.
We took a risk with the set-up for the first race and it didnt work that well so, for the second one, I went with what my team-mate [Riccardo Agostini] had and the car was a lot better. All race I was in the top three and four but then we had a problem at that pit-stop with the tyre change. In the end, it was a bit of an average weekend really, for sure we can do better and we should have done better.
One of the highlights of the event for Danil was the tremendous support shown by the tens of thousands of spectators who packed into the world-famous Grand Prix venue for the annual visit of AUTO GP. The support we had this weekend was amazing, he added, There were 70,000 people watching the races and they really were great, its really good to race with that kind of support.
While the AUTO GP season now takes a four week break from action, Danil will be back on track in the GP2 Series next weekend, 11th/12th May, as part of the FIA Formula One World Championships Spanish Grand Prix event in Barcelona.
