With Duncan Dayton having injured himself, Highcroft have called on Robbie Kerr to be the third driver alongside myself and Stefan Johansson this weekend. I've seen Robbie come up through his career - I drove for Zytek not long after he drove for them in 2004, when he did a great job for them at
Silverstone - and he's one of those guys I felt needed a break because he's a talented young driver. So, when we sat down and asked what sort of driver we were looking for as third driver for Petit Le Mans, Robbie's name came up very quickly. He came over and did a test on the Monday and did a fantastic job considering he didn't know the circuit and didn't know the car. He just jumped in and was immediately on the pace and impressed everyone. So having him on board against such tough opposition is going to make our chances even stronger.
Of course, the gap between events has allowed me to turn my attention onto other forms of racing, and it has been impossible to escape
Lewis Hamilton's impact on
Formula One. Yes, there has been a lot going on in
F1 this year, with all the controversy over spying and the like, but it is Lewis that has really captured the imagination.
The outcry if he had been denied a shot at the title - which he now looks favourite to win - would have been deafening and the whole issue really shows the politics involved in the sport. I know a lot of information gets transferred across from team to team, but this one stretched the boundaries a little bit and some people have got into serious trouble over it. I think the
FIA are trying to set an example of what can happen to a team, and felt they had to come down pretty strongly or more of this stuff is going to happen.
So it's been an interesting year for Formula One, and the 'Lewis Hamilton Factor' has certainly taken it to new areas. He's great for the sport in general, not just for Formula One, although there is more focus now on F1 and the kid is certainly doing an awesome job. He's showing a lot of people what is possible.
