Monday, June 30, 2008

Hartley relieved to be back on track

Hartley relieved to be back on track

Brendon Hartley was relieved to get his British Formula 3 title charge back on track with a pair of victories at Thruxton yesterday.

The Red Bull-backed Carlin Motorsport driver was only eighth in the championship before the weekend, having spun or crashed out of races while fighting for the lead twice already this season.

But the dominant double win at Thruxton lifted him to fourth in the standings, just 10 points off the lead.

He gained a lot of confidence from a weekend with no costly setbacks and says he has put the earlier disappointments of the season behind him.

"I'm really happy with what I did this weekend," he told autosport.com. "I didn't crack under pressure, I didn't make any mistakes, and I was quick enough to break the tow and win both races.

"Obviously it's a big change after the last race at Snetterton (where he spun out of the lead) because things had started to look quite bad. But I knew I had the speed if I could just stay on the road.

"I've had my problems this year and I have made too many mistakes, but it's time to forget about that and look forward to the rest of the season because I'm right back in contention."

Hartley will be looking to reproduce that form next time out on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.

"It will be hard because I've never driven Brands in my life, but I can learn new tracks quite quickly so, apart from knowing a few little secrets, I should be up there after a few laps (in practice)."



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