Aston Martin works driver returns to the cockpit of the no99 Beechdean Dairy Ice Cream sponsored Vantage V8 for the fifth race of the ELMS season in Spa alongside Andrew Howard and Alex MacDowall. The British trio are currently in second place in the championship, just five points behind the leaders and the Silverstone race winners will be hoping to get the better of the JMW Motorsport Ferrari this weekend in Belgium.
Q: What are your thoughts as we head to Spa for round 5 of the ELMS?
“Obviously it is very tight in the championship right now but I feel that Spa is one of those tracks that will suit the ELMS more than some of the other tracks we race on. Although they are good circuits to race, Imola in particular is a very tight and twisty circuit for multiclass racing we have. Where I think Spa will allow everyone to get a bit of a gap between the classes and there will be more space to be able to focus on your race within the race. So I am actually looking forward to it.”
Q: As you have raced for Aston Martin Racing in the WEC at Spa since 2012, how do you think the Aston Martin will perform at Spa during the ELMS race?
“The Aston Martin always runs pretty well there, it is a competitive package. We’re not leading the championship at this point but we are not far off and hopefully we can turn that around this weekend.”
Q: What about the famous changeable Spa weather?
“If it is wet or dry we’ll be OK, we should be strong whatever the conditions Spa historically throws at all of us.”
Q: Are the rest of the team looking forward to the race?
“Yes, the whole team are hugely motivated. In Austria we had a good strategy but we were unlucky with the Full Course Yellow towards the end. The Strategy at Paul Ricard was equally good but again the Full Course Yellow didn’t help us and went in others favour – but that’s racing. We’ll have to review what we do at Spa and see if we can make it work for us.”
Q: What are your thoughts as we head to Spa for round 5 of the ELMS?
“Obviously it is very tight in the championship right now but I feel that Spa is one of those tracks that will suit the ELMS more than some of the other tracks we race on. Although they are good circuits to race, Imola in particular is a very tight and twisty circuit for multiclass racing we have. Where I think Spa will allow everyone to get a bit of a gap between the classes and there will be more space to be able to focus on your race within the race. So I am actually looking forward to it.”
Q: As you have raced for Aston Martin Racing in the WEC at Spa since 2012, how do you think the Aston Martin will perform at Spa during the ELMS race?
“The Aston Martin always runs pretty well there, it is a competitive package. We’re not leading the championship at this point but we are not far off and hopefully we can turn that around this weekend.”
Q: What about the famous changeable Spa weather?
“If it is wet or dry we’ll be OK, we should be strong whatever the conditions Spa historically throws at all of us.”
Q: Are the rest of the team looking forward to the race?
“Yes, the whole team are hugely motivated. In Austria we had a good strategy but we were unlucky with the Full Course Yellow towards the end. The Strategy at Paul Ricard was equally good but again the Full Course Yellow didn’t help us and went in others favour – but that’s racing. We’ll have to review what we do at Spa and see if we can make it work for us.”
