Alex gets back into action at Hockenheim and immediately shows his intentions.
Pre-event testing kicked off early in Hockenheim with overnight rain providing the teams and drivers with a damp track and paddock. Fortunately, by the time the first private test session kicked off at 9 am local time, the track was mostly dry and slick tyres were the name of the game.
Alex and team mate Marc both drove in the test session and immediately set the early pace with constant fast times on old tyres. As other teams opted for new tyres the Braxx duo stayed on the old tyres and concentrated on fine tuning lines and car set-up.
The session was briefly interrupted with a red flag with just over an hour to go and Alex and Marc were both well in the top six, with Alex leading the way with the fourth fastest time and first driver on old tyres.
As other teams opted to change tyres and chase times, Alex and Marc remained on old tyres and Alex ended the test with the 9th fastest time.
With the first part of the test completed Alex handed the car over to Pedro for the Elite 2 session.
Unfortunately, twenty minutes in to the session Pedro pitted the number 90 car with a suspected slipping clutch so the first test came to an end.
To ensure everything is 100% for Alex the team elected to opt out of Free Practice 1 and instead change the clutch assembly in the car ready for Free Practice 2 later in the day. With Free Practice 2 setting the running order for tomorrow’s 10-minute qualifying session it is important to set a good time. With an average lap time of 1m:33s, with one out lap to warm the tyres, the drivers will have less than six laps to set a time to get into the five-minute super pole, for the top ten drivers.
Alex immediately set about finding the gaps in the traffic to set a string of fast times. With a number of other laps compromised, Alex finished the session in a creditable 5th overall just eight tenths off the fastest time, and just four tenths off championship leader Frederic Gabillion.
“We spent the majority of FP2 in P1, however knowing what I do now, we could have gone even faster which would have protected me as the other drivers put times in at the end. Tomorrow is a new day and, it all looks promising for quali tomorrow.”
Tomorrow, Alex will be back for qualifying at 10am CET, and will be doing his best to get into the Super Pole, as he did in the last road course race at Brands Hatch.