Weston Hills star Johnathan Hoggard endured a tough weekend in the Netherlands as the FIA Formula 3 Championship headed to Zandvoort.
He maintained his impressive recent performances to open the weekend, finishing practice seventh quickest, just three tenths of a second off the fastest time, but unfortunately, things unravelled from there onwards.
With a grid of 30 cars all vying for space on the twisty 4.2km circuit, qualifying was tough as, on his quick final run, Hoggard found the track blocked, which left him in 23rd position.
He made a good start to the opening 24-lap contest, passing both his team-mates, but then slipped back when he ran wide. Getting his head down, the Jenzer Motorsport driver gained two places, but contact from Hunter Yeany sent him into the barriers and retirement.
That compounded things for race two, as Hoggard lined up 29th, but he gained three places on the opening lap before going deep into the chicane and losing time.
Refusing to give up, he battled back and, despite a couple of Safety Car periods to recover cars from the gravel, fought his way to 19th place.
For the final race on Sunday morning, the South Holland star slipped back at the start to 25th but gained ground, including pouncing after a Virtual Safety Car finished on the final lap, passing two cars to finish 20th.
Hoggard said: “When you qualify where I did then it’s damage limitation.
“The race you want to make positions up in is race one, as that helps you move up again in race two, but I got put in the barriers. In race two we started from the back of the grid which was always going to be tough. We used fresh but not new tyres unlike most people, but we managed to make up some places.
“When we started the car for race three it used quite a bit of voltage on the battery and stopped the DRS from working. I was told over the radio that DRS was enabled but that I couldn’t use mine, it was a bit of a nightmare really.
“That said, I was surprised by the number of overtakes we made, and I was able to race quite well. It was a learning weekend for everyone. It’s another track learnt, and it was positive to be in the mix in the practice session and to make up places in every race.”
