by Russell Atkins
TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL: CLICK HERE
Paul di Resta made a strong impression in the DTM last year, despite driving a 2005-spec Mercedes C-Class during his debut campaign in the championship. In 2008, he underlines, he intends to be a full-on title contender.
Even more noteworthy still in 2007 was the fact that the Scot achieved his fifth place in the championship standings having stepped across into the pan-European touring car series from single-seaters, where he had clinched the prestigious F3 Euroseries laurels the previous season. The 21-year-old told
Crash.net Radio how he is aiming for bigger and better things still second time around...
Q:
First of all Paul, looking back over your first season in the DTM, how would you say the year went?
Paul di Resta:
I would say it was a good year; it was pretty satisfying. We were in a two-year-old car, and it would have been a tough challenge to make any more of an impact than we did. We’ve got to be happy.
We had four podiums – two seconds and two thirds – and a lot of good qualifying pace, but we were unfortunate. In the middle of the year I got taken off a few times at the first corner through no fault of my own, and if you take that into account I think we were in a strong position come the end of the year.
Q:
How much of a difference would you say there was between the 2005-spec car you were driving, and the 2007-spec machine? There seemed to be a far greater difference as the year progressed and the 2007 car increasingly developed…
PdR:
Of course; as you would expect, it would be a big problem if your new car didn’t develop, whereas we had what had been the benchmark in 2005. You had to make the best of what you had; in some places it was enough and in some places it wasn’t. We just had to make the maximum out of what that car could produce.
Q:
Back at the start of the year, before the season had begun, did you expect to be that much on the pace come the opening rounds?
PdR:
I wasn’t too sure when I got told I was going to be in a two-year-old car, but after the winter testing it was quite clear how fast it was going to be. That meant it wasn’t so much of a shock to me at the first race, because we knew we had good pace; it was a matter of how quickly I could get my head around the longer races, pit-stops and how race strategy worked. At the end of the day I was there to help the other guys, so hopefully I did a good job.
Q:
How much of a difference was it for you going from single-seaters into tin-tops?
