Colin Queen Shows Hunger On Maiden Hungaroring GB3 Trip
American GB3 Championship racer Colin Queen had to do it the hard way on his first visit to the Hungaroring, as he charged through the pack last weekend (22/23 June).
The Floridian teenager impressed in the third round at Spa-Francorchamps recently with three exciting performances for the experienced Fortec Motorsport team, overtaking 18 cars during the trip to Belgium.
Backed by ONE Sotheby's International Realty on the #62 Fortec car, the 19-year-old travelled to another historic long-running Formula 1 circuit, the Hungaroring in Budapest, aiming to catch the eye further in the early stages of his single-seater journey.
With a new circuit brought new challenges, and for Queen it was initially about gaining mileage as he and the Fortec squad used two days of testing to work on set-up and performance of the GB3 car ahead of the fourth weekend of the season.
Both of the team’s cars were not far from their ultimate pace shown in practice, but even that was still out of a competitive window for Queen to show his true speed. Handling issues continued on Saturday morning when it came to the important 25-minute Qualifying session. Battling with what was underneath him, he was left out of position on the 10th row of the grid for the first race later in the afternoon.
What followed was another classic Queen display like at Spa. A lightning getaway when the lights went out moved him up three places instantly, braking late around the outside at the first two corners to begin an impressive fightback. By the end of the first lap, he was six spots better off already, before passing Shawn Rashid on lap three to move up into a finishing position of 14th by the chequered flag.
Starting slightly higher for race two in 18th on Sunday morning, he again made progress in the early stages. A strong start put him up one position, before making overtakes on Seb Murray and Flynn Jackes - finally taking 14th once again thanks to a brave second-corner attack on Javier Sagrera in the closing stages.
Again from an unrepresentative row 10 starting spot, Queen again looked at making forward progression to end the weekend on a positive note. He climbed several places on the opening tour, making up four places by the end of lap three. Battling ahead of Tymek Kucharczyk, he took the flag 15th to end the weekend with 17 overtakes to his name in Budapest.
Colin Queen: “Much like Spa, it was a good weekend in terms of how we raced, but it was a tough weekend for us as a team in terms of overall performance. We didn’t quite have the handling of the car where we wanted it to be, which put us out of position and I think that showed when you look at how we raced over the two days.
“We gained a lot of positions again, which is the positive to take away from the weekend. Next we’ve got another new track in Zandvoort, and then we’ll get back to some more familiar circuits in the UK with a lot more experience under our belts, so I’m looking forward to what’s to come.”
The American next heads to a third and final European circuit on the calendar as GB3 visits Zandvoort in the Netherlands across the weekend of 13/14 July.
Photo Credits: Jakob Ebrey Photography