Delighted Hatton says Aron’s Qatar victory has been a ‘long time coming’

3 December 2024

Hitech Pulse-Eight Team Manager Clive Hatton says he and the rest of the team are “delighted” for Paul Aron after their driver achieved his first victory of the year at the Lusail Feature Race.

Aron came into the weekend having achieved three Pole Positions and a season-leading seven podiums, but the 20-year-old had not yet scored his first win in the Championship.

But the Estonian driver hit the ground running in Lusail, leading Practice before then taking pole. He went on to win Sunday’s Feature Race despite finishing second on the road, benefitting from Gabriel Bortoleto’s five-second time penalty to take the win.#

Speaking in the paddock following the end of the weekend’s event, Hatton was happy to see Aron’s hard work finally be rewarded with a victory.

“We are all absolutely delighted, it’s been a long time coming,” said Hatton. “He was starting P1 today and anything can happen in a Feature Race, it’s happened before and it hasn’t gone our way and we didn’t know what would happen today.

“Obviously Bortoleto got him early in the race but lucky for us and unfortunately for Bortoleto, he got that five-second penalty and Paul just managed the gap to him and we won the race in the end.

Aron claimed his first Formula 2 victory in the Lusail Feature Race

“I am delighted for Paul, he put a lot of hard work into this weekend during that 10-week gap and he did a lot of simulator, a lot of work with the engineers making sure the car was right, it’s paid off for him and I am happy for him.”

It wound up being a very successful weekend for Hitech as Aron’s victory put him on 163 points, meaning that he heads to Abu Dhabi 25.5 points behind leader Bortoleto and with a chance to win the Drivers' Championship.

On top of that, Amaury Cordeel’s seventh-place finish in the Feature Race alongside the win helped Hitech jump ahead of PREMA Racing and Rodin Motorsport to fourth in the Teams’ Standings with a round to go.

For Hatton, Round 13 was more beneficial to Hitech’s season in terms of the Standings and for the morale.

“It’s quite tight in that midfield contention where we are at the moment,” said Hatton. “It’s great for Amaury as well, he has been working hard as well, he seems to be better in Abu Dhabi, the momentum will be with him going into there now, so I am happy for Amaury.

Hatton is hopeful Hitech can carry the momentum forward to Abu Dhabi

“Like I said after that 10-week gap where you are focused on only two circuits, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, so it’s hard work paid off for the team and for Paul. Hopefully we can carry that momentum forward to Abu Dhabi.”

Previewing Abu Dhabi, Hatton says he is going into the weekend without setting any expectations on the results as “anything can happen”, especially now that the harder round to prepare for in Qatar is behind them.

“I think everyone is in the swing of things,” said Hatton. “The harder one is Qatar because it’s like the first day back at school after such a long gap but going into Abu Dhabi everyone will be in the swing of it and drivers in a rhythm so should all run smoothly.”