HRT is eager to race in front of its fans in Barcelona

The HRT team did not participate in private testing at Mugello in Italy this week; they preferred to focus on settling into their new headquarters in Madrid to best prepare for the next race, which will take place in Barcelona next weekend.

The Spanish team will therefore race in front of its home crowd, and Luis Perez-Sala, the director of the HRT team, is eager to be there: « This is the first Grand Prix we attend after settling into our new premises, thus beginning a new chapter in the team’s history. We are looking forward to participating in this Grand Prix, which will be the first time we race at home this season. Showcasing our cars and our team in Spain is an extra motivation, and we hope to have a good weekend and finish the race without any issues while improving step by step. »

Pedro de la Rosa thinks the team made the right decision by skipping the Mugello tests: Not going to Mugello was not an easy decision, but it was important to visit our new facilities for the first time and work calmly because it’s the first time the car is in Europe. For the first time, the mechanics had the time to take the car apart, build it, and assemble it.

This break also allowed team members to rest, to question themselves, in order to be better, as Perez-Sala explains: “After the first four races, we are approaching this one more calmly. We are better organized and better prepared after taking a bit of rest this week.”

The whole team, even Narain Karthikeyan, hopes to shine in front of the Spanish public. This is the first of our home races for the team, so we are motivated to do our best, explains the Indian driver.

Karthikeyan knows that it won’t be easy in Barcelona, especially because the team will be discovering certain tire specifications introduced by Pirelli in 2012, as they did not participate in pre-season testing: « The Circuit de Catalunya is a good circuit, very demanding and requiring aerodynamics. It’s a track I know well, and it’s the first time this season that we will have both Hard and Soft tires, so the lap time difference will be significant and strategy will play a decisive role. We don’t know the tire behavior as we haven’t done pre-season testing, but since the compounds are softer this year, the degradation, especially with the Soft tires, will be high due to the lateral forces in corners like turn three. »

One of the objectives of the HRT team is to get closer to its rivals in terms of performance, and to do this, it has planned to introduce some aerodynamic updates to the F112 in Barcelona, as Pedro de la Rosa explains: On this circuit, aerodynamics play a significant role and it will be a test for our updates. The track is also tough on tires.

Same sentiment from his teammate, who knows that these new aerodynamic elements could play an important role: « The circuit demands aero, because of the strong wind that sometimes changes direction so finding good settings very early will be crucial. We will also have some new components which should allow us to extract even more performance from the car and thus enable us to compete with our closest rivals. »

Beyond the performance that these new parts are expected to bring, Luiz Perez-Sala hopes they will also improve the reliability of the F112: « We are bringing some new items to Montmelo which we hope should allow us to take a step forward in terms of performance and reliability.»

The Spanish Grand Prix will therefore be an important weekend for the entire HRT team, but even more so for Pedro de la Rosa, who will drive in front of his compatriots at the wheel of a car from a Spanish team: « The Spanish Grand Prix is the most important race for a Spanish driver, but this time it will be even more special for me because I am racing for a Spanish team in my birthplace. »

The Barcelona native thus hopes to deliver a strong performance in front of his fans but no matter what happens, he will try to enjoy the moment as much as possible: « In Barcelona, we will try to do our best, as always, but even more for this Grand Prix. We are playing at home in front of our best fans in the world. We are looking forward to this and it’s something historic that I will try to enjoy as much as possible.»