Jean-Eric Vergne, the recently crowned British F3 champion, will be up against his predecessor and fellow Red Bull Junior team-mate, 2009 champion Daniel Ricciardo, in the Formula Renault 3.5 series at Hockenheim this weekend.
Ricciardo is the closest pursuer of championship leader Mikhail Aleshin as we arrive in Germany for races 12 and 13 of the season. Aleshin currently enjoys an 11-point lead over the Australian.
During the break in the series during August, Ricciardo has kept himself ready to race by doing an F1 showrun and spending time in the simulator in his reserve role for the Red Bull Racing team. Great emphasis was also placed on maintaining fitness in recent weeks.
‘Daniel will surely help me… he has already promised that!’ – Jean-Eric Vergne
Frenchman Vergne replaces New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley in the Tech 1 Racing Team from the races in Germany onwards. JEV will come to Hockenheim straight from the penultimate race weekend of the British F3 championship at Snetterton – and head into his first World Series weekend with little experience of the Renault-Dallara race car.
“Driving is bound to feel completely different, the difference in engine performance alone amounts to almost 200bhp,” Vergne commented. “But I nevertheless expect to be able to run up to the front in no time.
“And Daniel will surely help me do so, he has already promised that to me!”
Vergne’s British F3 title is the third in a row for a Red Bull Junior after Jaime Alguersuari, now of the Toro Rosso’s F1 team, won in 2008, followed last year by Ricciardo.
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