Hitech Racing will go into the 2008 British F3 International Series eager to try and defend the title in won in dominant fashion last season with new
BMW Sauber test driver Marko Asmer.
In the first of a series of exclusive columns with
Crash.net, team boss David Hayle looks to the season ahead for Hitech and its young driver line-up…
Q:
How does it feel to have your reigning British F3 Champion in F1? On a personal and professional level?
David Hayle:
On a personal note it’s very satisfying really as I’ve worked with him on and off for the last four years, I brought him to the team, looked after him, had him stay at the house and paid for his racing so it’s a huge personal satisfaction that he’s got to F1 as a lot of time and effort was spent on getting him there.
And on a professional level for the team it’s just rewards for all the hard work and everything the team has tried to achieve in its short history. So on both counts it’s a massive reward.
Q:
How will his progressions help British F3?
David Hayle:
It doesn’t hurt that people coming into British F3 to see somebody from Britain going straight into F1 because of late nobody really did that. A few have gone from Euro F3 and GP2 into F1 but not directly from British F3. I can’t remember who the last one was to go straight into
F1, probably
Jenson Button but that was a while ago so it’s quite an achievement that Marko has managed to do that.
Q:
What are your plans for 2008?
David Hayle:
Our ambitions are to try and do what we did in ’07 but it’s one thing to win a championship and another to defend it. The expectations we will put on ourselves are going to be even greater than before but nevertheless it’s something we will try extremely hard to achieve and that’s got to be the goal for 2008.
Q:
Do you feel it’s possible to win races or the title?
David Hayle:
You can never not believe that it’s possible to win the title and at the point you stop believing it you shouldn’t be racing. Regardless of the drivers you have to believe it. Both Walter and Max will have learnt a lot from last year, indeed their testing pace at Pembrey proved that and should both be chasing race wins without a doubt. Hopefully if one of them can string a few race wins together we could possibly mount a strong championship challenge.
