Christian Hohenadel defended once again his third position in the GT1 World Championship drivers ranking with constantly good results. At the seventh round of the GT1 World Championship at the Paul Ricard HTTT (High Tech Test Track) in Le Castellet/France, not everything went as planed for Hohenadel during the two races. But he still managed to finish 5th in the Hexis AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 in the Championship Race and grabbed another good amount of points.
The Qualifying Race at the former Formula 1-track at the French Riviera started with bad luck for Hohenadel. The reigning FIA GT3 European Champion qualified for the sixth place of the grid together with teammate Andrea Piccini. But for the race, the number thee-Aston Martin DBR9 of Hohenadel/Piccini was set back to the end of the starting grid, when the team mounted a set of tires which belonged to the sister car on the Hohenadel-Aston Martin in the heat of the moment. The stewards had no mercy and send the chrome-black-Aston Martin to back of the grid. From the back of the grid, Hohenadel/Piccini battled trough the field during the 60-minute race and finished in a great sixth place. „To finish sixth after starting from the back of the grid isn’t too, bad”, Hohenadel said after the race. „Without the set-back, we could have finished in the top-3 today. We had problems with the front splitter during the race and had some vibrations in the car, which increased until the end of the race. But we fought hard for our position and are really happy with the sixth place finish.”
After the promising Qualifying Race, the next set-back was already in store for Hohenadel/Piccini. Also for the Championship Race, the two Hexis-boys were set back in the grid. Piccini went a bit wide at the start of the Qualifying Race and used the run-off area to avoid contact, but the stewards penalised this for leaving the racetrack. Due to that, Hohenadel had to start from eight place of the grid into the Championship Race. After a strong Championship Race with some spectacular fights, Hohenadel/Piccini saw the chequered flag in fifth place. „In the first half of the race, I had a fights with our sister car, which didn’t made my race easier. It was a bit unnecessary and we certainly have to speak about this”, Hohenadel said. „At the end of my stint, I then had a massive drop in the tires. After all, it was a though and difficult weekend, but we really made the best of it. It was very difficult in direct fights with the competitors, as our car lacks a bit of top speed. So you have to fight all the time and are forced to make sometimes some very hard moves, which aren’t my style, but otherwise you can’t survive in this though championship. Without the two grid penalties, we could have finished on the podium this weekend. But also the fifth place gives us a good amount of points and we are still third in the driver’s championship. There are still three races to go in China and Argentina and we still have all chances in the championship.”
Source : Christian Hohenadel