Going into 2008 and my second season of racing in Formula 3, I have to admit that I’m feeling quite confident about the year ahead.
All the pre-season testing has gone really well for me, although the media day didn’t quite go to plan as whenever I went out on new tyres, there was a red flag which spoiled my lap. However, at both Pembrey and
Snetterton before that, I was in the top five which was very good.
I always knew I could be up there on the times this year as last season I was quick, but I just wasn’t in the best car. I got into testing with Hitech and I knew it was a better car straight away and that I had developed as a driver. Although I knew I would be quick, I didn’t think I would always be inside the top five as I have been – I thought I might have a bad day and drop to tenth or something like that. But it has been good so far.
Last year really was a learning year for me with Arena Motorsports and I think it did its job as there wasn’t a lot of pressure on me. Because I didn’t have a team-mate, I didn’t have to worry about looking at the data and seeing someone was quicker than I was, I could just work at getting myself up to speed. It has shown so far that last season worked and this is the year where I have to prove myself. Now I have a team-mate I can look at their data and then drive towards what I need to do.
Working with Walter has been good so far and we have been quite close on the times at all the tests. I think that is important as we can work together on the data and take a little bit from each others laps to try and add it to our own. Working with some experienced drivers like Jonathan Kennard and Rodolfo Gonzalez was meant to give us the chance to look at their data, but they ended up looking at ours as we were quicker than them! Jonathan was unlucky with new tyre runs and things like that but Gonzo got straight in the car and was quick. However, he has now decided to go and drive elsewhere this season instead of joining us.
