It’s as if we’ve never been away! Following Round 4 last week in Germany, the Series have travelled the short journey across to Budapest in Hungary for Round 5 of the 2014 campaign. This is the only back-to-back event on the calendar which is always an extra challenging time for the paddock with limited time to prepare.
Hockenheim produced two new winners in some of the hottest conditions GP3 has had to contend with. Home favourite Marvin Kirchhofer flew to his maiden pole, followed by a dominant win on home turf which saw the German rookie propel himself to third in the Drivers’ Standings.
Fellow debutant Jann Mardenborough was victorious in Race 2 achieving Arden International’s first win and podium of the season. Series leader Alex Lynn continued his impressive streak, pocketing two podiums and extending his advantage over his competitors. His nearest rival Jimmy Eriksson recovered well from a penalty issued after Silverstone to collect six points in Race 1 but lost a podium place the next day after a yellow flag infringement.
ART Grand Prix’s Kirchhofer and Jenzer Motorsport’s Pal Varhaug will both drop five positions on the grid in Race 1 after causing separate collisions at the Hockenheimring.
There are several changes to the driver line-up this weekend, Victor Carbone will not drive for the Trident outfit – the Italian squad will run with two drivers (De Beer and Gilbert). Austrian rookie Christopher Hoher replaces Adderly Fong in the #22 Jenzer Motorsport machine.
Pirelli have nominated the soft tyre for this event.
Warm Up with Pal Varhaug:
“It’s quite a challenging track as you have to be quite a smooth driver, it’s quite weird as if you try to push more you can end up going slower. You have to be really precise and do everything right to go fast. You need to have a really good qualifying at this track as it’s very hard to overtake.
"There are a lot of corners which follow each other and you only really have two chances to capitalise on: the front straight and two corners where you can overtake. It’s not easy as both of those corners you come out of a corner where it’s difficult to be close behind someone. I enjoy the two fast corners – they are fun as they are both blind and you just have to trust your instincts and go for it. For me, I like the track a lot as it’s where I have won the most races and I just like the fact there is so many corners and you have to put it all together, to make a good lap. If you make one mistake, your lap is ruined. It is challenging but I like challenges so it’s great."
Noteworthy:
The best rookie is Alex Lynn (Carlin) who leads the Series on 114 points.Carlin leads the Teams’ Standings after Round 4 on 191 points, over Status Grand Prix on 126 and ART Grand Prix on 125.There has been 7 different winners from 8 races (Alex Lynn, Dean Stoneman, Emil Bernstorff, Jimmy Eriksson, Richie Stanaway, Marvin Kirchhofer and Jann Mardenborough.)Kirchhofer and Pal Varhaug both have a 5 place grid penalty which will be applied to Race 1 in Budapest after causing separate collisions in Hockenheim Race 2.There are several driver changes this weekend: Austrian rookie Christopher Hoher will replace Adderly Fong in the #22 Jenzer Motorsport car whilst Trident will run with two drivers only: Roman De Beer and Mitchell Gilbert with Victor Carbone not racing this weekend.The Timetable:
Friday 25th JulyFree Practice 17.50 - 18.35
Saturday 26th JulyRace 1 Start 17.20
Sunday 27th JulyRace 2 Start 09.25
