Adrian Quaife Hobbs was a recent addition to complete the full season FFF Racing driver line-up in the team’s McLaren 650S GT3, the Kent-based ex single seater racer continuing in a McLaren after a debut year in GT Racing with McLaren last year.
“I could have continued with the same sort of programme this year, there was an offer to do just that but it would have needed a commitment to around 20 weekends across the year and I am at a point where I want to be doing other things as well as racing.
“I am very actively involved in a business building, selling and installing racing simulators (Pro-Sim) which is going very well but which needs a lot of time an involvement. I’m enjoying doing that a lot and, of course, it’s important in terms of my income.
“I am though, of course, still very much interested in racing but needed a programme that was less intensive in terms of the time required so this Series, with six race and some testing, is ideal.”
So how did you find adapting to a GT car after such a large proportion of your racing was done in single seaters?
“I found it pretty easy, I never forgot that my first ever Championship was won in a tin top (T-Cars) and you don’t lose that.
“I will say though that I very much prefer the atmosphere in GT racing to that in GP2, GP2 it has to be said was not the most enjoyable period in my career whereas the Blancpain GT, and the British GT paddocks were a much less intense, much more of a team-focus, less aggressively focused.
How do you think the McLaren will stack up in this series?
“It’s a very good car, I had the opportunity to test both the Aston Martin and the Mercedes (SLS) GT3 cars before joining the McLaren effort.
“The key here though, as elsewhere in GT3, is going to be Balance of Performance. Here for instance we are around 12 km/h down on straight line speed compared to the same car in SRO BoP trim (265 km/h to 277).
