The Double R Racing team and Swedish driver Linus Lundqvist lamented on a poor weekend after an unidentified engine issue saw him retire from all three F4 British Championship races at Brands Hatch. The Formula STCC champion had been a pace setter in pre-season tests and will be gutted with the result.
Lundqvist himself had qualified in fourth for the first and third race, falling back in the opening laps of each. On both occasions he found himself many seconds off the pace, retiring after he dropped to the back.
“It’s definitely not been the weekend we hoped for, especially after such a strong showing on the test day with Linus”, said Double R team principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt.
“In race one a stone damaged his intercooler, but we think there was an additional issue as he had no turbo pressure and no matter what we did for races two and three the car just didn’t deliver enough power.”
Hieatt was aware of the Swede’s championship capability and was disappointed at the organisers for not providing more help in issues beyond their control.
“We’re gutted for Linus as he’s an undoubted championship contender and has lost a lot of points this weekend through this issue. I have to say, in my opinion, Ford needs to seriously up its game with the technical support track side so problems like this don’t end up ruining a driver’s weekend.”
Elsewhere, the other Double R cars experienced no such issues with Karl Massaad picking up points, while Daniel Cao ran narrowly behind the Lebanese driver.
Hieatt added: “It was a better weekend for Karl and Daniel, they both showed good pace – within a couple of tenths of podium pace – and they had some great battles. It was good to see Karl in the points in the first race, especially as we experienced engine problems with him too, and Daniel is a great little fighter. It’ll be interesting to see how they develop during the season.”