Josef Newgarden – Qualifying and First Heat Race at Silverstone

Silverstone, England (November 1, 2008) – Today Conor and I began the day by posting our best qualifying efforts and then ended with our individual heat races. Conor was first out for qualifying in Group One and began on a wet track while I went out in Group Three on a damp and drying track. During my session we set the car up on a dry setup seeing as the track was drying at a fast rate.

All drivers were allotted 10 minutes to post their quickest time. Traffic played a big role and was somewhat of a problem for me during the start of the session. Once I cleared traffic, I made a mistake into Copse Corner which was still a bit damp. My entrance was fine but when I understeered wide in the center of the corner, I ended up dropping two wheels onto the slippery curbs and spinning to a halt.

When I was able to re-fire the car and continue my session, time was running short. The next lap was almost completely clear and seemed like the right situation to set that pole time. As I was coming to the completion of that lap, the reds were deployed just seconds before I crossed the line which stripped that time from me.

The session should have been far from over with three minutes remaining, but the stewards decided to cut the session short and move on to the next group. This was disappointing seeing as we had the pace for pole. Nonetheless, the important part of the weekend was the final race, so the team and I picked up our heads and focused on our upcoming heat race.

Just an hour before our heat race, the skies opened up and rain began to shower the track. Seeing as Silverstone holds its moisture, coupled with the bitter cold weather, it was looking like a wet track for nearly all the groups.

When the time finally came, I strapped in the car and headed to pre-grid for our heat. I would start from third on the grid. On the first lap I was able to get into second place and set my focus on first. I was trying to be cautious early on and not make any silly mistakes. The next lap I was able to overtake first when the leader made a mistake out of the last corner and almost looped his car.

The final laps of the race were less exciting and were focused on setting safe, consistent times. Winning my heat race is a great result in respect to how the grid is ordered for tomorrow’s semi-final. I’m so happy for the team so far, but as all of us know, there’s still a lot of work to be done.