Perhaps the biggest test of the season so far looms at Salt Lake City for round four of the
American Le Mans Series. The Miller Motorsports Park will be a challenge because it's the most demanding track on the ALMS calendar for the car. Sebring is tough because it's bumpy and harsh on the driver but this track inflicts a high load on the car and particularly the transmission. I also think that the turbo powered cars will have an advantage in Utah due to the high altitude, so it's going to be a tough race but it will be a good test for us all.
It was great for Patrón Highcroft Racing to get Acura's first LMP1 race victory in round two at St Petersburg, it was a historic event. In years to come they will look back and remember that it was Patrón Highcroft Racing who delivered that win, and it's an important victory for the team.
Obviously we go to Salt Lake City with the attitude to win again and maintain our LMP1 championship lead. We had a welcome break after Long Beach, which gave us all a chance to catch our breath. We've used that time to make sure we are fully prepared and we're feeling pretty positive for this weekend.
I'll be heading to Utah straight from racing in Europe after contesting my first race with Peugeot Sport in the Spa 1000 kilometres last weekend, ahead of the
Le Mans 24 Hours.
That race didn't go as well as I would have liked it to, but we can still walk away with a lot of vital information to take forward to Le Mans. The sister Peugeot had a faultless race and it was great for Peugeot to take the win.
I had a pretty frustrating race. I was overtaking another prototype and I thought I had enough room but he moved over, I tried to move to avoid him, but he tagged my right rear bending the wishbone.
We lost a massive amount of time in the pits but the team did a fantastic job to get me back out there. When we finally got racing again after the safety car I managed to pick up a few places but the penalty we received for that incident obviously dropped us even further down.
Sometimes you learn more when you have a bad race and I learnt a lot at Spa and so has the team. But that's all behind us now and we'll only take the positives forward for Le Mans, which is the main prize. It's still good to have my first race for Peugeot under my belt and I'm looking forward to next time out at Le Mans.
But Le Mans is still a few weeks away yet and for now my entire focus is on Salt Lake City and delivering another win for Acura and the team.
DB
