Van Hoepen: Anticipating change in track conditions pivotal for Qualifying

It was the perfect start for TRIDENT and Laurens van Hoepen, as the Dutch driver secured top spot in the morning’s Free Practice session around Barcelona.

A 1:26.776 was good enough for P1 ahead of his closest rivals in Roman Bilinski and Alexander Dunne, both lapping within a tenth of the TRIDENT driver’s time.

Reflecting on the session, van Hoepen said that the team had done well to optimise their first push lap when the tyres were at their best.

He added that conditions versus how they had been in testing meant that tyre management and bringing the Pirelli rubber into the ideal operating window was key.

“It was a good session. Of course, very little laps as always in Barcelona, the first push lap matters the most because that’s when the tyres are still intact.

“The grip is the best in the first push lap and I think we did a good job managing the first push. It was very warm, very different than testing, of course.

“When you're testing in February, the track is much cooler. Now it's a lot warmer and you definitely feel that in the grip and the performance of everything, basically.”

With Practice in the books, focus now switches to the all-important Qualifying half hour, and the Dutch driver is feeling confident he has a competitive package in Barcelona.

Work between the sessions will focus on adapting the car to meet the track which will have changed once again in comparison to the relatively cooler condition in Practice.

Van Hoepen said that the switch in tyre compound to the Softs and fine-tuning will bring plenty of performance come Qualifying.

“The car felt good. I think we still have some fine-tuning to do, but overall good. I think we have to work hard now to make sure that we can do the same in Qualifying.

“Qualifying is going to be a different session in terms of how it goes, just because you have the option tyre now, so the Soft instead of the Hard.

“Nobody will have driven on it. So, it will be a bit of a different session, but that's why we have to work now. But, I think it's a good start, and if we just keep up the work, it should be good.”