Hungaroring: Tech 1 Racing weekend summary

Two podium finishes for Julien Jousse and Tech 1 Racing

The Hungaroring meeting was the last one before the summer break. The Tech 1 Racing team put on a first-rate performance and bagged a large number of points. Thanks to Julien Jousse's two second places the Toulouse-based squad narrowed the gap between itself and P1 Motorsport in the teams' championship chase.

A month after Silverstone the World Series by Renault teams set up camp in the Hungaroring paddock to tackle the twisty and bumpy Hungarian circuit, a far cry from the Northants track that was hosting the British Grand Prix the same weekend.

After the two days' collective practice confidence was running high in the Tech 1 Racing squad. "Our two drivers have done a great job and we've pursued our development programme on the car. Charles posted the quickest overall time during the two days, and our level of performance will enable us to go for a place on the front row," declared a happy Simon Abadie before qualifying.

Tech 1 Racing qualified both its cars easily for the Super Pole, the final session fought out between the best twelve drivers. Julien Jousse set the second-quickest time, but even so he was a bit miffed as he was baulked on his two fastest laps. Charles Pic ended up fourth but was pushed back to eighth, as he had not slowed sufficiently for a yellow flag.

The start of the first race was given on Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of over 70 000 spectators: in total the Hungarian meeting attracted over 120 000 people! Thanks to the inverted grid Charles found himself on pole. When the red lights went out he fluffed his start and dropped back to third. Julien, on the other hand, shot from seventh to fifth and soon got up to fourth. He then began to pressure his team-mate and on lap 12 found the opening. "We realised after the race that Charles was suffering from a puncture on the left-hand rear," explained Simon. "This caused him to spin and ruined his hopes of scoring any points."

Julien's third place soon became second when Alexandre Marsoin was hit with a drive-through penalty for jumping the start. His podium finish helped him retake second spot in the overall classification for drivers.

For Sunday's race Julien and Charles were on the second and fourth rows respectively. At the end of the straight Julien played it safe and didn't put up a stiff resistance to Molina who snatched second. Charles was back in eighth place. With an obligatory wheel change to come there was still everything to play for.

Like most of the favourites Tech 1 Racing brought its drivers in early on in the race and decided to change the front wheels, which took a little less time than replacing the rear ones.

The team's efficient pit work helped Julien rejoin in second place between the future winner, Fabio Carbone, and Miguel Molina. The positions of the front-runners did not change until the finish giving the no.1 Formula Renault 3.5 driver his third podium of the season so far. Charles drove a steady race and came home ninth adding an extra couple of points to the team's tally.

"Overall, it's been a very positive weekend. I'm very proud of the team and the drivers," summed up a delighted Simon Abadie. "Julien had just the kind of perfect weekend that you'd expect from a title contender. He drove very intelligently in both races and scored a bagful of points that have helped him close the gap to Giedo van der Garde. Charles had a mixed weekend although his pace in qualifying and in the races should be underlined. In hindsight, it's always easy to rewrite history, but I'm convinced that with a little more luck his weekend would have been as good as Julien's."

The next meeting will be at the Nurburgring (Germany) on 30th-31st August.

-credit: tech1 racing