This is probably the right time to be arriving in Italy, immediately following the country's success in the World Cup final. There's no getting away from just how popular an event it is, not least in a football mad country like Italy.
Thankfully, the Italians also have a love of motorsport and I'm sure there's going to be another strong turn-out at this weekend's World Series by Renault event at the Misano Circuit near Rimini.
In keeping with the start of the series, we've had another long break between the last round in Turkey and this weekend's action in Italy. It's kind of frustrating as all I wanted to do following the Turkish event was get back in the car and get going again. Being taken out of both races at Istanbul Park was just depressing and, each time, it was under circumstances that I could do nothing about. I was just plain unlucky, but it was harder to take as I knew I had a good car beneath me.
We continued to struggle a little in qualifying but, in both races, the car was transformed and I was able to get going and gain position. My team-mate, Sean McIntosh, was in a similar position and he left Turkey with a fourth and a sixth place finish! For the first time this season, I left a race weekend empty-handed, certainly not something I envisaged at the start of the week.
I know we'll bounce back this week but, again, I'm faced with learning another new circuit. As in Turkey, though, we're not dropped right in it! We have a pair of two-hour test sessions on Thursday, followed by two more 45-minute sessions on Friday. I've talked to a few people who've raced there before and I've studied the track map, and I'll get out and walk the circuit with my engineer before we get out on track in the World Series car.
