It has been a tough debut year for former Spanish F3 champion and World Series by Renault frontrunner Andy Soucek, but things finally showed signs of coming good with two points finishes - and a maiden podium - in the penultimate round of the season, at Spa-Francorchamps, last time out.
Now, with the Bridgestone-backed series heading to Valencia for its final round, Soucek is hoping to build on that momentum with another good showing in front of his countrymen at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Q.
How many times have you raced at Valencia, and is it one of your favourite circuits?
Andy Soucek:
I know the track very well and I have raced there many times. I am Spanish, so it is a home track for me and I like it very much. Valencia is a bit like a go-kart track, the same as Monaco and Budapest, where times are really close, so I think it is going to be a very exciting end of season.
Q.
Can you describe the main characteristics of the Valencia circuit?
AS:
The first thing is that it is anti-clockwise, so the first corner turns left instead of turning right like on most circuits. So, for your neck, it is a bit more difficult than other tracks because you are not used to the left corner so much. One of the most important corners is the first one, it’s a very quick left hand corner in fifth gear where you have to really ride the apex otherwise you can lose control of the car. It is very important to be very concentrated in Valencia, there are lots of corners and there is no break to relax. There are no big straights; the longest one is the first one and you reach nearly 290 km/h here, so it is still high speed.
Q:
The fact that it’s anti-clockwise: how does this affect the car set-up for Valencia?
AS:
Because of the first corner, I think you can run a little bit more off camber, for example, on the rear right. I don’t believe it is going to change too much the set-up of every car. It is more about the corners, the grip of the track and the temperature. I think the most important thing is the tyres. Everybody really has to get the right pressures in Valencia to be able to maintain the rhythm throughout the whole race. I think you will see cars running with quite high downforce, for the first corner, not to get so much understeer or oversteer, so you have to get a well balanced car.
Q:
GP2 will be on the medium compound
Bridgestone tyres, how do you think they will perform there?
AS:
It depends on the temperature but I don’t expect the weather to be very hot in Valencia and this should help the tyres. We don’t have any
Formula One cars running, so there will not be as much rubber put down on the track, which will mean less grip.
Q:
What parts of the circuit are best for overtaking?
![Andy Soucek - DPR [pic credit: GP2 Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/339352.jpg)
