TEAM NEWS: After a frustrating opening race of the weekend at Hockenheim, Hitech Racing was able to celebrate a second win of the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series season after Gabriel Dias secured victory in race two.

Gabriel had qualified on the front row of the grid for the first race, but problems with his car - which led to two aborted starts - forced the Brazilian to give up his grid position and start from the pitlane. Despite that leaving him right at the back of the field, Gabriel climbed up the order to finish in seventh place, with the reverse grid draw leaving him second on the grid for race two.

With the team having worked hard to replace the clutch on his car between races, Gabriel took his place on the front row but a poor start saw him drop to third off the line. However, he quickly battled ahead of Adriano Buzaid before reeling in leader Oli Webb; taking the lead at the hairpin on lap eight.

From there, he went on to secure his second British F3 win of the 2010 season and his first win 'on the road' - his victory at Silverstone coming after he finished second in the race behind visiting driver Alex Sims, who wasn't eligible for points.

"At the start of the first race I was worried that we were going to end the day without any points, so to come back and win the second race is great," he said. "The car was perfect and the whole team deserves it after the work they put in between races. When the team gives me a car as good as that, I really want to go out and repay them and winning is the best way to do it.

"It looks like it will rain for the final race tomorrow which will make it tough but we are starting from the front row and I will do my best to get another good result."

Team-mate Will Buller was left to reflect on a missed opportunity following the first race, after a drive-through penalty ended his hopes of a third podium finish of the year. The MSA Team UK driver had run inside the top three before race stewards handed him a drive through penalty for exceeding the track limits. It meant Will had to settle for a tenth place finish.

Will's car also needed work after the opening race, with the team forced to change his Volkswagen engine, and a fine start saw him jump from tenth on the grid to seventh on the opening lap; a position he would maintain through to the finish.

"I was running in a comfortable third place in race one, so it was disappointing to get a penalty for running off the track that dropped me down to tenth place," he said. "In the second race I got a good start to climb up to seventh place but I had a slight misfire which we held me back a bit.

"The prospect of a wet race tomorrow doesn't bother me. You never know how things will pan out in the wet and how people will perform, but I'm confident that I can have a good race and hopefully fight for more than just a podium finish."

Gabriel's victory was just reward for the Hitech squad after a challenging day, with team boss Ryan Sharp understandably thrilled with a victory that strengthens the Buckingham-based team's championship challenge - and one that goes some way to making up for the loss of a win at Magny-Cours last week due to a post-race penalty.

"The first race was obviously disappointing with Gabriel's problem at the start and Will's penalty but to win race two is absolutely mega," he said. "The team did a great job to change the clutch in Gabriel's car and after a poor start he drove a perfect race, getting ahead of Buzaid and then taking the lead with a brilliant move on Webb. It's our first win on the road and goes some way towards making up for what happened at Magny-Cours.

"Again, the team did fantastically to change the engine on Will's car and he really pushed on the opening lap to get up to seventh place. Unfortunately he then found himself stuck on the back of a train of cars and there was a big battle ahead of him which meant he couldn't climb higher.

"With Gabriel and Will right at the front for the final race, we're hopeful of a successful end to the weekend tomorrow."