R4: European GT4 @ Hockenheim

Best Qualifying of the Year at European GT4 Championship R4 – Hockenheim

The fourth round of the European GT4 Championship was run at the Hockenheim Ring in Germany, the location of the last German Grand Prix in 2019. The circuit has undergone a number of redesigns since it was originally built in 1932 and is now 2.8 miles long with 17 corners and largely flat. The weather for the entire weekend was dry and hot with track temperatures between 44-55 degrees centigrade.

I was pleased with my qualifying, when I managed a time that put me 14^th overall and 0.8 off the fastest time.

My team mate Dexter started Race 1 and was making good progress from a start position of 31 up to 22 when I took over the car. I managed just 2 laps before the car cut out and I had to pull off the circuit. When it was retrieved we found that the exhaust manifold had split and melted the insulation of an electrical cable which then shorted out on the chassis and cut the electrics to the engine, so we were classified as a DNF.

I started Race 2 from 14^th on the grid, got a good start and made a couple of places on the opening lap only to be hit by a BMW going into turn 10 which dropped me to 16^th, there was then a safety car and on the restart I got the jump on the Aston Martin in front of me only to be forced into the wall by the driver I was overtaking. I recovered and started to make progress before being hit from behind by an out of control Porsche driver which destroyed the rear of my car and finished our race.

It has become clear that racing in Europe involves a lot of contact and our car isn’t really strong enough to withstand this type of racing. A disappointing result, but I am really looking forward to the next race at Monza in Italy in September.