Xie sets out his early season goal ahead of rookie campaign with Hitech TGR

11 March 2025

Hitech TGR have one rookie as part of their line-up for 2025 and Gerrard Xie is eager to learn as quickly as possible.

The Chinese driver partners Martinius Stenshorne and Joshua Dufek this season and is gearing up to tackle his first campaign in the Championship.

Ahead of Melbourne and Round 1 of the 2025 season, Xie reflected on his journey to get to this point and talked about how he has been preparing for his new challenge in F3.

“If you see the progress I’ve made in two years, it’s been incredible. I’ve also always been with Hitech, going from a national champion to international racing is not that easy, but I’m really excited to get started with everything.

“It’s been a lot of gym work and simulator to be honest. There’s not much else you can do over the winter, especially over Christmas. But I was back in the UK, going to the gym and the factory working with the team and preparing for the new season.”

While Xie will be getting to grips with an FIA F3 car for the first time this season, his adaptation is eased by the fact that he has for Hitech previously. However, he says that it has been similar to joining a new team having to learn new names and faces.

Xie had three days of pre-season testing in Barcelona getting used to the new F3 car

Another challenge he picked out is the move to 16-inch Pirelli tyres, which he says will require everyone to learn a new way of getting the best out of the tyres.

“It’s like a brand-new team because of the different team members, so there’s still some things I’ll be adapting to. Detail is especially something that is a lot higher than I’m used to, but so far so good.

“I think the new car is going to force everyone to adapt a bit, especially with the new 16-inch tyres. So, it’ll be interesting to see how the tyres warm up and behave, because everyone’s a bit unsure as to how it’ll work. But it’ll be quite a challenge as well.”

Having achieved his own success around street circuits, runner-up around Macau back in 2022, Xie says he’s looking forward to getting back to a street track in Albert Park for Round 1.

The Hitech driver added that the challenge of adapting quickly is always a big draw for such a circuit, and a task he very much enjoys.

“The test was very, very positive, a good learning curve. In theory, we haven’t lost much, some corners are just really down to detail and putting the lap together, so we can be at the front.

Xie is keen to learn as much as possible to start his rookie F3 season

“Melbourne looks like it’ll be very fun to drive, very high speed and lots of confidence-corners. So I’m really looking forward to Melbourne as the first race.

“Street circuits are always something special to race on. You have to adapt to it pretty quickly. Having raced around Macau in Formula 4, it’s unbelievable. So, I’m very much looking forward to racing on this street circuit.”

With his focus back on what’s to come, Xie has an early season goal of just absorbing as much as he can as he aims to get up to speed as quickly as possible.

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The Chinese driver said that he is well placed with two experienced drivers alongside him in Stenshorne and Dufek, and that his focus is solely on himself and how he can improve in the early races.

“I think I’ll just be trying to improve myself throughout the year. It’s not a huge goal that I have at the front of my mind. Everyone is so competitive, and some drivers are in their second or third years, so have a lot more experience and know all about the procedure of the weekend.

“So I will just be focusing on myself and try not to get distracted by others. Martinius and Joshua are both second-year drivers, so they’re very good teammates for me to have and learn from. They’ve been nice so far in helping me learn so, so far so good.”