Almost perfect debut for the newly created HS Engineering / Zele-Racing cooperation on home soil at RedBull Ring (Spielberg/Austria). The first appearance of HS Engineering in BossGP already showed potential in a wet Qualifying session on Saturday morning, when Latvian driver Harald Schlegelmilch led the pack in cold and slippery conditions to only miss out on Pole to Series Champion Ingo Gerstl in his STR F1 Cosworth.
Race 1: On a quickly drying track Riga racer Schlegelmilch had to run wide in turn 1 to avoid collision with 2020 BossGP Formula Champion Marco Ghiotto and settled in behing the more powerful GP2 car.
For Schlegelmilch, who returned to singleseater racing afer a 10 year break it was a steep learning curve in Race 1 as running and tracktime on Friday was very limited. Nevertheless he stuck with the leaders Gerstl (STR1 Cosworth F1), Phil Stratford (Benetton B197 F1 Judd) and Ghiotto (GP2-11 Mecachrome) to finish 4th overall and 2nd on his BossGP debut.
Race 2: It was payback time for HS Engineering in the second heat of the day. Starting again from the front row beside Gerstl´s F1 car, this time Schlegelmilch got a better start and not only managed to stick with the leader but also build a 30 second lead over the following pack.
The HS Engineering Dallara – Gibson V8 crossed the line on P2 overall and won the BossGP Formula class easily.
Schlegelmilch: „Bit by bit i am getting to grips with how to drive a big singleseater. the HS Engineering car is absolutely amazing. It has so much downforce and grip. I braked later in Qualifying on a wet track than i did in Free practice on slicks. We still have to learn a lot, however this was a brilliant debut for the whole team. I enjoyed every minute“
Michael Hascic (HS Engineering Team owner):“ I am satisfyed with the performance of everyone on our first appearance in BossGP this weekend. Our aim is always to provide perfect equipment and to be able to fight for a race win – i have to say i am overwhelmed with the results. It was very enjoyable to be on the podium twice today.“
Michael Zele (Engineer):“ it is always nice to see hard work and attention to detail pay off. We at Zele-Racing put in massive effort to perpare the Dallara T12 cars for HS Engineering over the last 3 months. We had absolutely zero issues with the car all weekend. To win straight out of the box is amazing. Big compliments also to Harald – a great guy to work with. He still has huge potential. I hope we can repeat the performance at Misano.“
