DALLAS, TEXAS - OCTOBER 11: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks during a preseason game at American Airlines Center on October 11, 2019 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Thomas Maxwell has been a busy boy since taking a trip home to Darwin last month when he took part in the latest round of the Formula Renault Eurocup Championship. The young Aussie racer had a relaxing four week break, but was back racing his heart out in Budapest last weekend for round five of the series.

Thomas was right in the thick of it for the three action packed races at the Hungaroring that saw some very challenging conditions.

Heavy rain hit the Budapest circuit for the first round of qualifying. Thomas should his mettle in the rain and qualified in a brilliant third place in group A and 6th overall for the first race of the weekend.

Although he got off the line for a brilliant start, the ensuing chaos forced him into a very early retirement.

However, defeat is not a word in the 18 year old's vocabulary and he headed into the second round of qualifying with a strong finish firmly in his sight. However, bad luck hit once again when an unexpected suspension failure brought him to a halt on track after completing just a single lap.

As a result he was forced to start race two and three from the back of the grid.

Starting from so far back there was little he could do on this circuit to work his way through the field and ended in a disappointing 22nd and 24th places.

"It was quite an unfortunate weekend, after having such strong pace, it was gutting not to be able to take advantage of it and come away with three very good results," Thomas explained.

"I felt we had a lot of potential but didn't get to show it because of our difficulties. It was a frustrating weekend but we've just got to bounce back from it and come back even stronger. The positives are that the pace is there, we just need to keep working at it and doing our best and the results will come our way."

Despite the end result, Simon Abadie, Tech 1 Racing Team Manager, can see the positives from the weekend and agrees with his young driver that the results will eventually come…

"Overall it has been a very positive weekend. Tom's performance in Q1 was solid, securing 3rd in the group, but unfortunately he couldn't capitalise on it during the race,” he said. “In Q2, he was also on course for a good result, sitting fourth place early on until a rear suspension wishbone broke on his second lap. From that point onwards, the end of the weekend became difficult. Thomas shouldn't get too disheartened however, he has to continue looking for performance gains wherever he can to turn his good form into results.”
Thomas will be back in action at The Nurburgring this coming weekend, followed by the Red Bull Ring round in two weeks' time.