ADD Motorsports driver Mitchell Gilbert was happy with his first complete weekend in the GP3 Series at Hockenheim.
After being lucky to walk away from the worst crash he’d ever been involved in during his debut with Trident two weeks ago, it was a relief to be able to get back behind the wheel and concentrate on driving again.
A pacey qualifying saw him start the first race in P5 – although tyre degradation meant he could only finish 14th.
Race 2 was a DNF due to gear problems, but he was delighted to post the second best lap time.
However, the whole weekend left him feeling much happier with his own performance and confident about the rest of the season.
He said: “It was a really good weekend, especially for my first proper weekend of racing GP3.
“The car was fast enough to win Race 2 but I had to start from the pit lane and the gear box broke completely near the end, so I was never in it.
“But the pace was there, which is really important.”
Mitchell was 13th out of 27 during practice, but it was during qualifying that everything came together and saw him finish in 6th place – just three tenths off first. When another driver in front was given a penalty it meant the Australian would start Race One in fifth place.
He said: “I was a little surprised to find I had been so fast, but really happy. The whole team were really happy, to be honest.”
Mitchell was hoping for an eighth place finish which would have given him pole in Race Two, but tyre problems meant he wasn’t quick enough and had to settle for 14th.
Race Two saw Mitchell unable to select a gear during formation and he was pushed into the pitlane to start and was forced to start the race from another gear.
However, when he got going he was really fast again – recording the second fastest lap time overall.
With around four laps to go though, the gear box broke completely, meaning he was forced to retire.
He added: “The results may not look great, but as this was my first whole weekend, I was really happy.
“I feel like I’m moving forward again. It’s been a hard year, but this has really given me confidence for the rest of the season.
“Now I know what’s going to happen over the whole race weekend, I feel I can have a really good weekend next weekend.
“We know what we need to do, so hopefully next week will be even better.”
