Hilmer Motorsport
While newcomer GP2 team Russian Time managed to secure the teams’ title in 2013, their success did not overshadow the arrival of another addition to the grid, as rookie German squad Hilmer Motorsport also managed a cracking campaign. After trying out GP3 regular Conor Daly and Auto GP runner-up Pal Varhaug for the opening rounds, the team settled for the highly-rated duo of Robin Frijns and Jon Lancaster, both of who had somewhat a reputation for being underfunded. The reliance on household names proved worthwhile ? Robin Frijns became a feature race winner in just his second weekend at Catalunya, while Lancaster completed that very race, which happened to be his very first outing for the team, in third.
Consistency was noticeably lacking, as a stellar Spanish outing was followed by no points at Monaco. However, they broke bank again at Silverstone, with Lancaster taking a reverse-grid win on home turf, which was followed up by another reverse-grid win at Nurburgring. Round seven saw Hilmer bring in outside funding with the talented Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, who didn’t take long justifying his hiring. He added another podium to the teams’ collection and Spa and then took Hilmer’s fourth win of the season at Monza.
The final standings saw Hilmer line up in sixth in the teams’ standings ? a result that was better than the highest position achieved by their predecessors at Ocean. They’ve already announced one of their 2014 drivers ? Daniel Abt ? and will be rightly hoping to add to their win tally. Going by 2013, Hilmer has instantly become one of GP2’s more capable, prestigious squads.
Valentin Khorounzhiy