Firstly, just getting your head round that isn’t easy, but to then get your head round the fact that you’re probably just as talented as them and arguably quicker is also quite an eye-opener. It’s a nice feeling, but quite bizarre at the same time.
On the negative side, you tend to think ‘if I’ve got that speed, I should be getting the results in the races as well’, but with only ten races in the year if you have a few bad rounds you don’t really get chance to put it right, especially with the poor starts I’ve had and so on. I had nine opportunities to make a good start, and I think I succeeded on only four or five occasions. You’ve got to weigh it all up and put it into perspective though – it’s obviously encouraging that I’ve got the speed, but there are areas where I can still improve.
Q:
Talking about perspective, you mentioned Hakkinen, Frentzen and Alesi and you outscored all three of them this year. How did that feel?
JG:
I was fairly happy about it, but at the same time I knew more was definitely possible. I feel like I’ve still got so much more to come. If I can keep consistent with my starts and improve my racecraft a little bit there will be a lot of opportunities for me to win races, and if you can do that why not go for the championship as well? I’m very optimistic for the future.
Q:
You were undoubtedly the DTM’s fastest qualifier this year over the ten races. What do you think is the key to getting a hot qualifying lap out of the car?
JG:
I can’t really put it down to any particular technique or process that I go through. It just boils down to the fact that you’ve just got one lap to put it all together, which I think really shows the raw talent of a driver, having to adapt to different circuits and conditions and only having one lap to make it all count. I can’t really put it down to anything other than ability. Sometimes I surprise myself!
Q:
Looking back, what would you say were your personal highlights and low points from the year?
JG:
One of my highlights would have to be the pole position at Zandvoort, purely by the margin of speed I had over my team-mates. That was particularly rewarding. The low point of the year is a very close tie between
Brands Hatch and the Norisring, where both times I performed very well all weekend but then fell at one of the last hurdles in the race, which is always hard to take.
Q:
How frustrating was Brands Hatch? You were second on the grid and leading the race when a small error towards the end dropped you back to second place.
JG:
Just thinking about it still really hurts. Deep down in my heart I know that could have been one of the best days of my life, driving for Mercedes as a works DTM driver and winning my first-ever race in the series in my home country with all my friends and family there supporting me. It was almost the perfect day – the whole memory is a bit like a dream. Unfortunately, when I look back it’s like a bad dream because I made a mistake while I was leading and threw away a big opportunity, and that’s really hard to come to terms with.
Q:
It must still have been special, though, to be racing in an international series in front of your home crowd like that?
