Driving a 'tin-top' is massively different to the open-wheel cars I've been driving over the years. It's different in so many ways - it's a big, heavy car, with carbon brakes, differences in power and the way it is delivered, a different way that the car rolls, and so on. The only other car that I've raced where I had a roof over my head was the Daytona Prototype in the Rolex 24 but, again, the DTM car isn't really that similar to the DP either. It's a proper race car though, but I'd probably say it's more like an F3 car than anything else I've driven.

I've had to adapt the way I drive and the way I prepare for the weekends because things are done so differently to how they were done in America. It's been a bit of a culture shock as, having had to get used to doing things the American way, I'm now getting used to having to do them the European way again. It's been different, but it's been good. It's not a better or worse way of doing things, it's just a different way, but it's good to be able to adapt yourself like that.

The DTM's policy of trying to balance the field by means of success ballast hasn't really had that much effect on us - until now. I'm hoping that that's changed because, in the last week actually, they decided to lower our weight a little bit and group us with the 2007 cars, so I'm hoping that that will make a difference to us and we can be more competitive and mix it in the field a bit.

It was becoming very segregated, with all the 2008 cars getting to final qualifying and the front of the grid, then all the 2007 cars, and then Christijan and I, who may mix it up a little and get a couple of the 2007 Mercedes but weren't really racing anyone other than ourselves. So I hope these changes will mix things up a bit, make the 2007 cars more competitive and allow us to be more competitive also.

We had a five-week early summer break between Lausitz and the Norisring, but I don't know where it went. I went back to Indianapolis for a bit because, obviously, it was my home for a while and I had a few loose ends to tie up. My friends are all there and I took the opportunity to go and see them and do some training in the warm weather, because it's been pouring with rain in Britain recently and that isn't exactly motivating when you have to get up and go outside. We also had a test, but nothing special other than keeping the momentum going for the season.

I'm really looking forward to Zandvoort now, because we went to the Netherlands with Champ Car and it was really, really exciting because everyone knew everything about what we were doing. You can go to some tracks and the fans turn up because they love racing.

It's really good to have that kind of enthusiasm when you go to a race track and, obviously, Zandvoort is very steeped in history. It is one of the tracks I always wanted to race at - when I was racing single-seaters, I always wanted to do the F3 Masters there - but never got the chance to. I'm really looking forward to going there and seeing what it's all about. The track looks fantastic, and I'm hoping it'll be good for our 2006 car.

Brands Hatch will be good too. I love Brands - the long circuit is awesome, but the little track is good too. It's good for spectators because they can see pretty much all the way around, apart from the hairpin at Druids, and it'll be good to be surrounded by my fans and my family. It'll be very different coming back to race in my home country seeing as I haven't done that for a while now.

The organisers confirmed this week that Lewis Hamilton will be demonstrating the McLaren at the DTM weekend, and that should put a few thousand onto the crowd. I watched the British Grand Prix and was really pleased for Lewis - he drove a fantastic race and was flawless in those tricky conditions, so he deserved to win.

I grew up racing at the same place as Lewis, although not with him because he's a couple of years younger than I am. But we were both karting at the same time and his dad and my dad were good friends, so it'll be really nice to see him again, see what sort of success he's made of himself and see if he's still the same Lewis that I remember from eight or nine years ago.

Hopefully, I'll see you at one of the next few races too.

Katherine