Ilott stakes his claim in Austria
GP3 SERIES
RED BULL RING (A)
JUNE 30-JULY 1
ROUND 3/9
Entering the Red Bull Ring, two British drivers who had been expected to fight for honours had almost been forgotten about in the title chase. Leaving Austria, Callum Ilott had the points lead and Jake Hughes had his mojo back after a tricky start to the season.
ART Grand Prix remains the class of the field, and its drivers are always going to be in the conversation for poles and wins. But Ferrari Academy prospect Ilott’s session topper on Friday was the first ‘real’ GP3 pole of 2018 for the squad, and with it heaped pressure on his team-mates – especially Anthoine Hubert, the pre-weekend points leader and the man tasked with fighting through the field thanks to an off-track moment at the exit of Turn 10 in qualifying. He collected grass in his radiator, which sent his engine temperature, and his mood, soaring through the roof. He’d start 19th.
The key moment of the weekend came on lap 15 of 24 in the feature race. Hubert had driven brilliantly through the field, and was attacking Jenzer man David Beckmann for seventh when ART team-mate Nikita Mazepin moved in for a piece of the action. Mazepin was in the blind spot of Hubert, who cut across the Russian, the contact spinning him down to an eventual 17th.
Mazepin also fell back, and finished the race outside the points, having started the weekend second to Hubert in the standings.
Of course, Ilott was oblivious to this. His focus was on building an early lead. With three DRS zones at this track, breaking the tow and edging a one-second gap over the field would be key – he pointed out before the race that the total gain of the aero aid was worth almost a second in lap time.
It started well, Ilott built a margin, but a safety car on lap one for Joey Mawson’s car – which had clutch issues and didn’t make Turn 1 – undid his work.
He’d have to go again. As a GP3 rookie, Ilott has shown remarkable maturity in dealing with a scrappy start to the season, and the restart was no different. It was timed perfectly and a 1.7s gap was built quickly, with no sign of the errors that often crept in during his Formula 3 days.
He was also helped by those behind him squabbling. Hughes had started second – inside the top 10 for the first time this season – and now he had a genuine chance at the front, only it didn’t go to plan.
Like so many drivers over the weekend, he visited the Turn 9 runoff and the small banana kerbs, which sent him airborne and broke his chassis while he was trying to escape Alessio Lorandi. Campos Racing’s Leonardo Pulcini had already passed, and Trident pair Lorandi and Pedro Piquet followed suit. Hughes was lucky to hold fifth.
There was further luck for Hughes in the sprint race. Ryan Tveter was leading at the entry to Turn 1 from second on the grid, but squeezed polesitter Beckmann into Giuliano Alesi and took all three out of the race.
Piquet attacked early race leader Hughes successfully at the halfway point, but three laps later Hughes returned the favour, and Piquet had run out of his six DRS opportunities. So too had Pulcini, who was dropped by the leading pair, but Piquet’s and Hughes’s squabble brought the majority of the top 10 into a close train behind.
Pulcini was a comfortable third, while Lorandi mugged Dorian Boccolacci – who had in turn just passed Ilott for fifth – to take fourth. A great weekend for Lorandi, who is racing against doctor’s orders due to a broken collarbone from a karting crash one month ago. “If the car had a halo, I don’t think I’d be able to get out!” said the Italian.