Q:
Were you surprised to see the Chevys so far up in Valencia?
AP:
Not really, no, because over the last year they’ve been very competitive, and obviously they were a lot lighter than us with no success ballast. They are performing really well right now along with SEAT, so nothing really surprises me at this moment in time.
Q:
Nevertheless, though, a podium position obviously – were you pleased with that at the end of the weekend?
AP:
I was; I think if I can have an eight-point weekend on a bad day I will be very happy. At the moment it’s still pretty tough for us. We are having to rely on the reverse grid; we’re always on the bubble in both qualifying and race one, and we need to see some alignment with the regulations to be able to then perform consistently over the whole season.
Q:
You then headed to Pau in southern France for the latest round; you’re a bit of a fan of street circuits, aren’t you?
AP:
I am; I love street circuits. They’re something I think that every driver really enjoys, because you’re running really close to the barriers and it feels so quick. Street circuits are unique – they’ve got bumps, they’ve got character, they’ve got kerbs. I just find it a really interesting challenge, and Pau is a beautiful place as well. I’ve always got a really positive feeling about street tracks.
Q:
Like Valencia, the weather was again a bit of a challenge over the Pau weekend, wasn’t it, as you found out to your cost during practice..?
AP:
Yeah; seasons go like that, don’t they? Sometimes you just end up with a wet season. Free practice was a shame. I was competitive in the first session, and was going well in the second session too. At the end of the day, though, if you’re not touching walls and spinning off occasionally you’re not trying hard enough. I had a pretty big hit in free practice two and damaged the car, but luckily there was no chassis damage and overall it wasn’t too severe, and my team managed to get it together again in time for qualifying which was good.
Q:
Taking that into account, and with the fact that qualifying was disrupted too with traffic and yellow flags, were you fairly pleased with your grid position in the end?
AP:
The qualifying session on a short street track is always going to be a challenge for everybody. I was quick in the first sector, then in the second sector came across Augusto [Farfus], who had gone off. That meant I had to back off with the yellow flags, and then had another go and found traffic. I was a little bit disappointed after being on my fourth set of new tyres, but still happy to be seventh. We’ve gone from being twelfth in Mexico to sixth in Valencia in the wet, and seventh in the dry at Pau was pretty pleasing actually. We’re going in the right direction.
Q:
You also had a suspended grid penalty hanging over you that weekend; did that play on your mind at all, or make you alter your driving style in any way?
