
Having made his debut – and secured points – in the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at Monza last month, Kevin Gleason will remain with RC Motorsports as the series heads to Budapest this coming weekend (12-14 May, 2017) for the third round of the championship.
Your debut went well at Monza, you must be excited to be back in the RC Motorsports TC1 Lada Vesta for Hungary…
“It was definitely a big learning curve in Monza having my first go in a TC1 car. Unfortunately, on top of that I was also knocking the rust off from a long winter as I hadn’t raced or driven a racing car since early October 2016. With all that being said I improved every session and learned a lot which will help me moving forward.”
This is a new circuit to you – very different from Monza which is all about speed….
“I have never driven the Hungaroring or even visited the country but I am looking forward to it as I have watched F1 race there for many years and the Hungarian fans love the WTCC, which should make for an exciting atmosphere. It will be a more technical track, so I am preparing the best I can with on board video and data from last season.”
You have been doing some simulator work in New York, can you tell us about this?
“I have found a new simulator place in Brooklyn called Racing Rooms which is fantastic. I haven’t done a lot of sim work in the past but I’m trying to utilise this to prepare as much as possible. While it’s not the same as the real thing, it does help me focus and put in the laps which is good for muscle memory.”
You scored points on your debut, what are your expectations for this weekend?
“I don’t have any set expectations for this weekend. Now that I have some idea what this car is like, I hope to improve my performance behind the wheel and qualify a bit better.
“I also want to make sure I improve my starts as they were far from ideal at Monza. I think I am in for a new experience in the race – really learning the tyres – as they will be under more stress then Monza, so I will need to learn how to manage them over a race distance. All in all, I’m looking forward to my second race in WTCC!”