Austrian Lucas Auer is competing in his second season of the FIA European Formula 3 championship in 2014, and switched from 2013 Teams’ champions Prema Powerteam to runner-up Mücke Motorsport.
The nineteen-year-old from Tyrol in Austria, who has former Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger as an uncle, has already won race one of the Hockenheim weekend this year, and is hopeful of challenging for the title. He believes the European F3 championship is where he should be at this stage of his career.
“As I see it, the FIA Formula 3 European Championship is the most competitive series in the young-driver area,” admitted Auer. “All the teams are working very professionally and you can compete with the best young drivers of the world, here. I contested my debut season in this championship, last year, learned a lot and want to reap the fruit of my labour, in the second season.”
Having left Prema Powerteam at the end of the 2013 season where he finished fourth in the championship with one win coming at Brands Hatch, the Austrian admitted he was delighted to be joining Mücke for 2014, and gets on well with Team Principal Peter Mücke.
“I feel really good and also have got the feeling that I will be able to win the title, with Mücke; I want to become the 2014 European Champion! I have been in contact with Team Principal Peter Mücke for quite a while and in the off-season, he offered me a really good deal. He really wanted to sign me for his team and that was a very nice feeling.”
Looking back over the first two events of the season at Silverstone and Hockenheim, Auer admitted the team were on the back foot in Britain but came back fighting in Germany, where he took his second career European Formula 3 victory.
“In the season kick-off at Silverstone, neither team nor driver were in perfect form. Things just didn’t run the way we had hoped they would. Afterwards, we worked a lot and I have to say: Kudos to my team and our engine partner, Mercedes-Benz. We made a major step in the right direction and were far better prepared when travelling to Hockenheim. And it goes without saying that I was really delighted with having won the first of the three races, there.”
