Interview
Browning remains confident in title bid despite ‘tough weekend’ at Silverstone
Luke Browning was admittedly disappointed to miss out on a victory on home soil after finishing eighth in the Silverstone Feature Race but was full of praise for his Hitech Pulse-Eight team’s performance.
The British driver took a last-gasp Pole Position on Friday, but after being hit by MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz in the Sprint Race, Browning’s car suffered a puncture and he dropped to the back of the field.
He returned for the Feature on Sunday but with mixed weather conditions leading to a frenetic race he lost the lead twice before Browning finishing in P8.
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With title rivals Arvid Lindblad and Gabriele Minì finishing first and second, Browning also lost his Championship lead and dropped down to third in the Standings, seven points off the table-topping Italian.
But as he reflected on the weekend Browning, while disappointed by the results believes there are plenty of positives to look forward to moving forward.
“I think a tough weekend, a tough race overall at home,” he said. “I think obviously being on Pole for the second consecutive weekend was amazing.
“But coming into the Feature Race on Sunday the radar said it was going to rain and everyone at the front initially took wet tyres which I think was the right thing to do if there hadn't had been any Safety Cars.
“It turned out that we didn't get the final cell of rain that was expected on the forecast which meant that the guys who started further down took the risk and benefitted from it.
“That's racing, we are close but not too far behind in the Championship, seven points back and in really good form, so if we continue as we are, we should be okay.”
Browning was one of the few drivers in the field who chose not to pit at the end of the Formation Lap or during the race. This meant that having started on the wets he was quick when rain hit the track but suffered a lot when the circuit dried out.
The race ended in dry conditions meaning that Callum Voisin, Lindblad and Minì all flew through the field late on with their Hard tyres. When asked whether he was tempted to pit for the slicks at any point, Browning revealed that the crash on Lap 9 changed his and Hitech’s plans.
“I think we would have pitted for slicks if the pit entry hadn't been closed because of the Alex Dunne crash but we couldn't which was quite unlucky,” he explained.
“We had a pit stop gap, about 40 seconds to the closest slick runner, so the thing is, if that crash hadn't happened, we would have won the race anyway with how much of a gap we were pulling.
“Unfortunately, it's just the way it happened, what's there to say other than I think we made the right decisions with the information we had at the time. Although we weren't rewarded then I think we will be rewarded over the long term for it.”
Despite of all this, Browning remains incredibly proud of Hitech with their performance across the entire weekend a huge positive heading into the final three rounds of the campaign.
“One thing I have to be proud of the team was, during that wet cell, in the middle, between the Safety Cars we were about a second quicker than the rest of the field,” Browning stated.
“I’m very proud that in all conditions throughout the weekend we were the fastest, I think that's the main thing to take away from it. In Qualifying we were the quickest, in the race runs we were the quickest and in the wet we were the quickest.
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“But sometimes in racing, it's irrelevant about pace and you need a bit of luck on your side, and you need to be on the right place at the right time. This weekend we weren't but I'm sure next time we will be.”
The drivers now get a break before returning to the track in Budapest from July 19-21, and despite no longer leading the Championship, Browning is confident heading into the final few weeks of the season.
“I think we have the highest average Qualifying position, I think the average highest Feature Race finishing position, maybe not after last weekend, but it shows the consistency is there,” he said.
“Obviously it was out of my hands in the Sprint this time unfortunately but that's racing you know, you have to be on the right side of things and like I say, the next time we will be.”