James Walker is keen to get a deal sorted for the forthcoming World Series by Renault season, hoping that he can put together a title challenge to build on a solid, race-winning, debut campaign.
The Briton told
Crash.net Radio that he was happy with the way he had performed in 2007, especially as he had moved up from F3 with a team, Fortec Motorsport, which was also new to the World Series.
"I think, overall, it was a good year," he said, "Obviously, a rookie driver and rookie team in a championship is never going to be easy, so to be in the position we were from the halfway point of the season was pleasing. And to get that win, in front of the home crowd, 150,000 people, was just a dream come true."
Fortec remains among Walker's options for 2008, but he admits that there is work to do before anything can be signed.
"I got on very well with the team purely because I knew them from 2005, when we did F3 together," he explained, "There were a lot of the same people there, and I had Chris Gorne - a very accomplished engineer - working solely with me. We got on very well, and I think the progression was there from the outset. Come the end of the year, I think our strongest race was probably Estoril, where we qualified on the verge of the top ten and we were, I think, fifth or sixth in both races. So the improvement was there, we got the win and showed that we could compete with the best.
"They are one of my options for next year and it would be great to continue that relationship. If it doesn't come to that, it will be a shame as I got on so well with them and they worked very hard. The amount of teams that they run in all championships shows that they are a very clever team.
"There are some other options, but money is going to be a big factor for us this year. The deals we're looking for mean that we are not free to just sign a deal [with a team] straight away and that's why it is taking so long.
