01/09/08 Summary and Interviews from Silverstone
John George achieved 17th place in qualifying at Silverstone, 19th in Race One following rear suspension and throttle issues, 15th place in Race Two and 14th Place in Race Three.
John Pratt, John George’s driving coach was somewhat disappointed after Silverstone, but remains confident in John’s driving ability and optimistic about Brand’s Hatch, the final race day of the 2008 season. He said:
Before this race John and I had the best practice racing day of this whole season. We used a saloon car at Brand’s Hatch and it’s obvious that John’s driving technique has come on leaps and bounds this season. He was really quick all day and continued to drive fast during free practice at Silverstone and subsequently in qualifying too.
“We’ve been the quickest relative to our opposition recently; leaving the other private drivers behind and edging ever closer to the serious guys at the front of the grid.
“It’s just a shame that we’ve had some technical problems, or we could be doing really well by this point in the Championship.
“In the first race John was driving really well, despite the water on the grid. Having damaged his rear wheel (after a minor collision with Collard), we lost some time.
“In Race Two the car’s setup was a bit too soft, which meant John was under steering, which makes the front of the car feel like it’s pulling away. This resulted in John exiting the corners slightly slower and falling behind where he should have been. The setup was tightened up for the third race, but it was still a bit of a let-down, since I know what John is capable of doing out there on the grid.
“Silverstone has three long straight sections, and if you’re under steering you can lose a lot of time as you come into these.
“John is so quick in the dry that it’s just a shame today was such a washout. Because yesterday (the 30th) was a dry day, we have had no wet testing on this circuit, which has not worked to our advantage.
“At this stage in the season, John is having to use a lot less effort to drive much faster. People assume that you have to drive hard to go fast, but the truth is that if you can sort out your technique, you can achieve much faster times without over-driving.
“If we get dry conditions at Brand’s Hatch I expect John will do extremely well there; his driving has improved so much throughout this season that I don’t doubt he could achieve a really good finish position during the final race day of 2008.”
Date: 01/09/2008