|
|
GP2 Features & Interviews (2007)
GP2 Feature - iSport Goes From Title To Testing
10/10/2007
Just days after clinching the team and driver titles in the 2007 GP2 Series, iSport International were back in action at the Jerez circuit in Spain.
After the highs and the celebrations of victory in Valencia, the team was hard at work just 72 hours later. But how do you go from one mindset to another in such a short space of time? We asked team boss Paul Jackson.
“It’s not been too hard really,” Paul grinned. “Although everybody is physically quite tired, I think we’ve all been looking forward to testing some of the new drivers, so there’s that little air of excitement about it that’s a new challenge. Everybody’s responded and I think the success of this year is making everyone more determined to do the same again.”
Given the team’s success, it will come as little surprise that, along with multiple champions ART Grand Prix, iSport International is now the most highly sought after seat for a testing session. Their books were literally overflowing for the Jerez sessions and Paul admitted that trying to pick which drivers to try out was far from easy.
“That’s a hard one because there are a lot of drivers and a lot of good ones, and you can only take four in this test,” he confirmed. “We’ve had to find a way of choosing them. Bruno Senna was a natural choice because we tested him last winter and he was very close to being ready last year. We sort of had an unsaid agreement with him that he would test with us again as soon as he could.”
“Then we’re obviously looking at Karun Chandhok with a view to the Asia Series and he’s had a really promising year and we were keen to see him and give him a run. We’ve tested Adam Carroll and Xandi Negrao and there’s different factors for each different scenario. We’ve got a lot more drivers to test at Paul Ricard so we’ll try and get through as many as we can.”
While the iSport cars topped both days of testing and ultimately came out with a new track record, Paul confirmed that while testing is important to show pace, there are a number of factors which come to bear on decisions for 2008 and beyond.
“There are two essentials that they all have to have, and that’s the speed and a reasonable amount of budget... unfortunately. After that we’re looking for drivers that work well with the team and the engineers, that have a good understanding of the car and the tyres, and people that are going to be good team players.”
“It’s very important to us that the drivers work together and share information. We’re looking for those personality aspects as well as the driving ability.”
That personal relationship is the primary reason for the strength of iSport and Timo Glock in 2007. There was perhaps no other driver in the series this season who was on the same terms with his team as the German.
So coming from a situation where a championship winning driver has been such an integral part of the team, does the experience with Timo act as a positive or a negative when having to chose the driver who will ultimately have to live and race in his shadow?
“Timo is a good yardstick to have, but I will admit that pretty much every member of the team at one point over the last few days has said ‘we’re going to miss Timo next year’ and for sure we will. But, we now know exactly what a very, very good driver is to work with and that gives us the yardstick to judge the others by. It’s a positive thing altogether.”
After a season of highs and lows and ultimately the crowning glory of both championships, iSport International have become the living embodiment of taking positives out of every situation. They may be losing one champion, but one wonders how many potential champions will take the wheel of their cars over the next few weeks.
If any of them match up to the yardstick left by Timo Glock, the other teams will have to beware iSport once again in 2008.
|
|