The Singaporean driver had suffered multiple technical issues throughout the season before winning two races in Portimão, putting him back in championship contention.

By Juan Arroyo

Christian Ho took two wins for Campos Racing at the Portuguese circuit and was on pace for an additional podium before suffering a suspension failure late in race three.

The Singaporean has been Campos’ fastest driver on pace this season, but had fallen behind in the championship standings as he suffered mechanical failures at Spa and the Red Bull Ring.

Following the Portimão round, Ho jumped to fourth in the standings, only 13 points behind the leading MP Motorsport trio of Bruno del Pino, Javier Sagrera, and Owen Tangavelou.

“The first practice session we were struggling compared to the MPs, but then as the weekend went on we developed the car and we were changing a lot of stuff in the setup. I think to do it in that way was probably the best, but it should have come a lot earlier for us,” Ho said to Feeder Series on his two victories.

“I always say, especially to my engineer, that we have to make a point, and we have to show that we are one of the quickest cars on the entire grid. I think this weekend was a long time coming. If there were only two races held, like a normal race weekend, we would have won both, so I think it was a good week,” he added.

Ho is not the only Campos driver to have suffered several mechanical failures this season. Valentin Kluss, Noah Lisle, and Suleiman Zanfari had also been victim to sporadic component issues in rounds prior.

Ho indicated the team made a number of changes in order to counter the amount of retirements from mechanical failures, which resulted in increased reliability in Portimão.

“We added some people to the team to try and make sure it’s a bit more reliable. At the start of the year, it was a completely new team that we had in terms of drivers, and I think some of the engineers went up to FIA F3. We had to add a few more people to help with the adjustment [and] it’s helped a bit now. We had to also make a change in our mentality as a team,” Ho said.

“I always drive the same. I’m always confident in the team. Even if we have a lot of problems, I know that we always bounce back stronger as we had in Portimao. But obviously we’re still a bit unlucky sometimes with technical issues that we had, especially the last race,” he added.

“I think my suspension broke, just not really a team incident. I think I was more unlucky this time around. I didn’t really touch anybody, didn’t touch any curbs and then just randomly broke.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency