In the highly competitive LMP2 category, the difference between finishing in the weekend on the podium or not, or even in the points, can be decided by the narrowest of margins.
Scotland’s Paul Di Resta, along with his teammates Bijoy Garg and Fabio Scherer, knows this only too well as the no23 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson has scored ten points from the first three races, with a best finish of 6th. in Imola.
So how does Paul Di Resta sum up the first three races of the season for the no23 car? “It has been hard, there's no denying that. We've been a bit unfortunate with some punctures at Paul Ricard, and I think we picked up some damage at Barcelona mid race. In this championship you can't recover from something like that as 4-hours races are so short.”
"In Imola, we also got rear ended by a GT car and had to do a tail change. I think if you look at it, we spent a minute and four seconds in the pits longer than the leader and we lost the race by under a minute."
“However, you've got to be clinical, you've got to be perfect, and it's just not gone to plan. We've not been in a fighting position when we need to be at the end of the race.”
What are Paul Di Resta’s thoughts on the circuit at Spa-Francorchamps? “I like it, but I don't stand here and say, I wish we'd gone to Spa. I think it's a great track. It's very good this year to drive, because being resurfaced, tyre degradation seems a bit lower.
“What I love about here is the elevation and the track. You don't really see many tracks for the elevation like you get here and the ups and downs. I think it's a good place to come in endurance racing, because I think it's a track that warrants multi class racing and opens up a bit as opposed to Imola, which was super tight, and then everybody getting on top of each other.”
