Kiwi Matt Halliday took advantage of the great passing opportunities that the Hockenheim circuit provides finishing ninth after starting sixteenth in the latest round (7/10) of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in Germany.
The weather was variable all weekend making life difficult for drivers and team engineers alike but Halliday had good race pace by overtaking eight cars on the opening lap in what were dry and cloudy conditions. Around mid-distance he came into light contact with another car which slightly tweaked his steering but not hindering his progress too much.
In what appeared to be a disappointing qualifying result Halliday was rather upbeat about his performance. “It was unbelievably close when you consider that 3 to 4 tenths would have put me third or fourth on the grid. It is the closest in any championship that I have competed in the world. When you have 8/10’s covering the top twenty cars.”
New to the circuit Halliday had to also contend with a wet track. “It was very tricky track conditions right before we went out in the rain both in practice and in qualifying.”
“It was very hard but we were quite quick but just missed at the end when we put a wheel on the curve and got it wet which slowed us while others went quicker.”
Halliday is tenth in the overall points table on 39 points while series leader Rene Rast (106 points)has a 16 point lead on Nick Tandy. Both drivers came away from this round with no points, both retiring from the race.
Halliday’s next race will be this coming weekend at Budapest where the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will support the Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
