Victory for HWA RACELAB in FIA Formula 3: Hughes wins in Barcelona

: on 16 August 2020

Jake Hughes (Great Britain) produced a dominant display in Saturday's race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to claim the first win of this season's FIA Formula 3 Championship for HWA RACELAB. The Sunday race also yielded more points for the team, courtesy of Enzo Fittipaldi (Brazil) and Hughes again.

1st and 10th place for Jake Hughes, 13th and 8th place for Enzo Fittipaldi, 14th and 15th place for Jack Doohan
Jake Hughes: "I am overjoyed with the first win of the year!"
Enzo Fittipaldi: "We are improving all the time and are gradually making progress."
Jack Doohan: "Unfortunately, I cannot be entirely happy."
Thomas Strick: "The team reaped the fruits of its labour this weekend."

Barcelona, 16th August 2020 – Jake Hughes (Great Britain) made a perfect start to the race weekend at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with an impressive qualifying display on Friday. He was involved in a lengthy, two-way battle for pole position, which he ultimately missed out on by just 0.111 seconds. On Saturday, he made a good start to the race at the 4.655-kilometre circuit, successfully defending his second place. Jake soon found his pace and put the leader, Logan Sargeant (PREMA Racing) under pressure. He closed to within touching distance on lap seven, courtesy of the fastest lap of the race. The Brit skilfully used his DRS at the end of the long straights, which then allowed him to overtake his rival on the outside of turn one and take the lead. Jake then set about opening a lead, but a safety car phase on lap nine allowed the chasing pack to close the gap again. However, lightning-fast reactions at the re-start allowed the 26-year-old to establish a gap ahead of his rivals and ensure that they were not within DRS range. Jake's pace remained strong. He set the fastest lap of the race on lap 13. By lap 18, his lead was already more than two seconds. The experienced Brit refused to be denied his victory and crossed the finishing line 2.388 seconds clear of second place after 22 laps of racing. In doing so, he earned HWA RACELAB its first win of this season's FIA Formula 3 Championship. After Jake's success in Spielberg last year, this was the team from Affalterbach's second victory in the junior series. First place and the fastest lap of the race were rewarded with 27 points towards the championship standings.

Sunday's race featured a reverse grid, meaning Jake started from tenth place. He did not have an easy start, was sandwiched between rival cars and was hit by another car. Jake dropped back to eleventh place, before the safety car made an appearance following a crash. Jake showed his class at the re-start, reacting quickly to gain one position. However, he was not presented with any further opportunities to make progress at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which is a tough circuit to overtake at. As such, Jake came home tenth to claim another valuable point.

Enzo Fittipaldi (Brazil) continued his upward trend in qualifying with 15th place on the grid. In Saturday's race, he immediately gained one position at the start, before the safety car slowed things down on lap two. Enzo made a bit of a mess of the re-start on lap four and dropped back to 15th place. He then managed to find his rhythm and set consistent lap times. As he found himself in the middle of a chain of cars, all of whom were able to take advantage of the DRS system, it was tough for him to make up ground. The 19-year-old remained focussed to the end of the race and eventually finished in a fine 13th place.

On Sunday, Enzo made a blistering start. He overtook one rival and also passed team-mate Jake in turn one. He impressively exploited a gap in turns four and five to climb another three places. However, a crash at the start resulted in the safety car taking to the track and stopping Enzo's rapid progress in eighth place. The Brazilian held onto this position for the rest of the race. The grandson of two-time Formula 1 world champion, Emerson Fittipaldi, drove a flawless race on a dirty surface that made the track tough to drive on, and was rewarded with a further three points.

Jack Doohan (Australia) started Saturday's race from 16th on the grid. He was initially unable to improve his position, but did find a good rhythm at the end of the first safety car phase on lap six. He climbed one place and had his sights set firmly on more. He briefly lost his rhythm when a car swerved in front of him, but Jack was able to stay in touch with those ahead of him. However, he too formed part of the DRS chain of six cars, which made overtaking very difficult. He was flawless for the rest of the race and ultimately came home 14th.

On Sunday, the son of five-time motorcycle world champion made a good start and climbed two positions within the first lap. After the first safety car phase, he was embroiled in a lengthy battle for eleventh place, but ultimately resorted to looking after his tyres. Following another safety car phase, he lost his concentration for one brief moment and the rear of his car skidded slightly on the kerbs. A number of his rivals seized this opportunity to pass him and Jack eventually crossed the finish line in 15th place.

The FIA Formula 3 Championship resumes on 29th and 30th August with two races at Spa-Francorchamps.

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Quotes on the race weekend

Jake Hughes (26, Great Britain, car number 15), 1st and 10th place
"I am overjoyed with the first win of the year. The work we put in between the two weekends in Silverstone is paying off now. The car is very good, which is allowing us to consistently keep pace with the leaders. That gives us the opportunity to win races, as we did on Saturday. The car was really nice to drive in the first race, and there were no issues with the tyres. I was able to push at first and then to manage the lead. Everything came together nicely. I had the pace to pull it off. I'd like to say a big thank you to the whole team! On Sunday, I lost a place in the hectic opening stages, when some of the driving was dubious. I then made it back into the points after the safety car re-start. I could do no more than that in the difficult track conditions, as everyone else was also able to use DRS. Despite this, I still picked up another point. That made it 28 points for the weekend, and I have really climbed the championship standings. I am more than happy and looking forward to Spa."

Enzo Fittipaldi (19, Brazil, car number 14), 13th and 8th place
"We are improving all the time and gradually making progress. We still have some issue with place on a dirty track, as we saw on Saturday. However, climbing from P13 to P8 in Sunday's race was really pleasing. I am happy with the result, as I am with the pace we showed. I climbed five places at the start, and pulled off very good overtaking manoeuvres in turns four and five. I remained in eighth place for the rest of the race. It is really tough to overtake here. We now head to Spa, where we want to continue to improve. The focus remains on performing better in qualifying. I still have room for improvement there."

Jack Doohan (17, Australia, car number 16), 14th and 15th place
"P14 in the Saturday race was a decent result. It was not a particularly good start, but I found my rhythm after the re-start and made up a position. I could not do much more than that. We were in a line of six cars, who all had DRS. And it is generally tough to overtake in Barcelona. However, I did at least manage to gain one place, even though our pace was not optimal. I actually started really well on Sunday. I passed someone in turn one and overtook another car in turn four, before the safety car came out. After that, I tried to keep pushing, but simply could not get past anyone. I ultimately focussed on finding my rhythm and, when it became clear that it was going to be tough to improve my position, I decided to look after my tyres a bit. Unfortunately, I made a mistake after the second safety car phase. I briefly lost the rear on the Sausage Kerbs and dropped a few places. As a result, I came home in 15th place. Unfortunately, that mistake means I cannot be entirely happy with Sunday's race."

Thomas Strick, Team Principal HWA RACELAB
"We are delighted with our first win of the season. We turned the corner last week in Silverstone, where we found a way to improve our pace. This weekend, the team reaped the fruits of its labour. In recent weeks, we have had to show patience and wait for the moment when it all came together. That wait is over. A fantastic display from Jake. Hats off to the commanding way he took his victory. We know what we have in him. However, Enzo and Jack are also becoming increasingly consistent, as Enzo proved on Sunday with another points finish. The whole team did a great job this weekend. I'd like to say a big thank you to them all."

Result of race one, Saturday 15th August:
1. Jake Hughes HWA RACELAB                            38:53:146
13. Enzo Fittipaldi HWA RACELAB                            39:08.811
14. Jack Doohan HWA RACELAB                            39:09.591

Result of race two, Sunday 16th August:
1. O. Piastri PREMA Racing 39:52.928
8. Enzo Fittipaldi HWA RACELAB 39:58.293
10. Jake Hughes HWA RACELAB 39:59.541
15. Jack Doohan HWA RACELAB 40:06.067

About HWA AG
HWA AG is an independent, 360° engineering specialist in the fields of automobile racing and high-performance cars. Formed in 1998 by Hans Werner Aufrecht, the company is based in Affalterbach (Germany) and employs roughly 300 highly-qualified members of staff. HWA AG offers all its products and services under the motto ENGINEERING SPEED: The company’s objective is to develop the best possible, high-quality solutions, in order to get its partners and customers to their destination quicker. The portfolio of services ranges from designing all vehicle components to assembling complete cars, together with the relevant logistics, after-sales and support services.

About HWA RACELAB
HWA RACELAB is HWA AG’s operations team in motorsport. It brings together experienced specialists in high-quality race engineering and the associated services, in pursuit of success on the motorsport scene. HWA RACELAB entered Formula E as a new team in the 2018/19 season, adding a future-oriented string to HWA’s wealth of racetrack expertise. HWA RACELAB has also been competing in the FIA Formula 3 Championship since 2019 and will be appearing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship from 2020. With eleven Drivers’ titles and over 180 race wins as a works team for Mercedes-AMG in the DTM, the company is one of the most successful players in international motorsport. HWA RACELAB also draws on the company’s other core areas of expertise, such as the development, assembly and running of GT cars for customer racing, as well as the assembly of Formula 3 race engines.

Annette Hörsch
Media

Tel: +49 (0) 7144 8717 – 215
E-mail: a.hoersch@hwaag.com