Heuzenroeder pushing hard in Hungary
Australian young gun Patrick Heuzenroader is aiming to continue his progression in his rookie GB3 campaign and is off to a fast start in Hungary.
The fourth round of the 2024 GB3 Championship is at the home of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest this weekend where Heuzenroader is hoping to pick up more points.
The 17-year-old racing for 2023 team champions JHR Developments ended Thursday testing with the eighth fastest time, being 0.622s off leading Kiwi Louis Sharp.
It is a positive start for the teenager in his first attempt driving around the twisty Hungaroring.
After making “throwing himself into the deep end” and making GB3 debut at the end of 2023 with great success, getting a surprise podium in his second round at Donington, Heuzenroader has collected six top 15 finishes to sit 13th in the championship.
Now at Hungary, a track every few in the field have faced before, the former Sydneysider hopes to keep making strides forward.
Patrick Heuzenroader roaring up to Eau Rouge.
“If you look at where I was at last year’s winter testing and now there has been a big improvement. A lot of that is down to the team and how they have helped me progress,” Heuzenroeder told AUTO ACTION.
“I am really looking forward to ramping up from here. I do like the technical tracks.
“We have Hungary which no one should have tested at and will show up on Thursday and hopefully we can learn the track quickly and be at the point end.”
Heuzenroeder headed to Budapest after taking on the iconic Spa Francorchamps for the first time where he displayed decent race pace, but was hurt in qualifying.
After a wet lead in during testing, drivers suddenly had to adapt to dry conditions for the vital session and the Aussie had to settle for 20th.
To make matters worse an engine issue cut Race 2 short being Heuzenroeder’s second DNF of the season.
But in races 1 and 3 he showed enough pace to make big strides up the leaderboard, gaining seven and six spots respectively.
Heuzenroeder said it was a tough weekend with conditions frequently changing, but he was encouraged by the race pace.
“There was limited dry running and adapting to the conditions in qualifying was not ideal,” he said.
“There would have been a few changes we would have made in hindsight, but from there I just tried to make as many positions as I could.
“I love racing in the wet so it was very good when the heavens opened.
“The engine failure in race 2 was really unlucky and pretty frustrating, but the mechanics did a really good job to get me out after race 3.
“I went up nine places which was nice. Overall we made a good comeback from where I qualified and still got some decent points.”
Having progressed from British F4 to the faster and more aero dependent GB3 cars, Heuzenroeder admitted he still feels like a “sponge” and said qualifying remains a point of focus.
Patrick Heuzenroader made the big move from Australia to UK to chase the F1 dream at 16.
To help him with the step up and the challenge of becoming a top 10 regular, he has the expertise of 2009 Le Mans 24 hours winner and former F1 driver David Brabham, plus the experienced JHR Developments team, which won last year’s title.
“I am just a sponge at this point,” Heuzenroeder said.
“The GB3 car has so much downforce and that takes bit of adapting, being a step up from F4 and a higher performance championship.
“Going to these F1 circuits requires a bit more insider knowledge on niece things which David has got from all of his experience.
“Even from the start of pre-season testing I was sort of always in the top 10 but have not quite put together a qualifying which is extremely important in these championships because of the downforce.
“Being with JHR has been great, over the winter they provided me with so many building blocks and experience to learn off them.
“Hopefully we can crack on and get some podiums this year.”
More testing follows on Friday before qualifying and three races are held over the weekend and will be broadcast on MSV TV YouTube channel.
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