Hitech Racing kept their points tally ticking over in the latest British Formula 3 Championship round at
Snetterton, although the team were left to rue poor qualifying positions that left them on the back foot in the races.
Having struggled for form in a wet session, Walter Grubmuller and Max Chilton lined up 16th and 17th on the grid of a circuit not renowned for its overtaking opportunities. Even worse, a laboured getaway for Chilton left him last at the end of the first lap of the opening race.
Grubmuller though made swift progress up the order and was embroiled in an exciting tussle for seventh place, before the Austrian eventually settled for ninth. Chilton fought his way up the order for an eventual 13th.
It is quite hard to overtake here, Grubmuller said. But I managed to make up quite a few places and in the closing stages of the race I was right in the battle for seventh.
With Chilton and Grubmuller starting 10th and 11th respectively for the second race, both were able to make steady progress up the order to eventual seventh and ninth place finishes, with both helped by an unusually quick start procedure that caught many off guard.
I don't know what happened at the start of race two, Chilton said. The red light just went on then off very quickly and we all hesitated but I got away quite well. I made up a few places early on and after that it was quite a tough race because I kept trying to push the guys in front. The car was great and I'm happy to get some more points.
Despite the less than favourable results, team principal David Hayle was satisfied given the qualifying positions.
After the qualifying positions we started from I think we did well to get three points finishes from a possible four.
Chilton is now ninth in the standings, with Walter just behind in 11th.
