Julien Gerbi: A baptism of fire at Brands!
Posted by Julien Gerbi in Formula Palmer Audi
Good morning everyone, and welcome to my Motors TV blog!
I’m Julien Gerbi, a French racing driver competing in Formula Palmer Audi
My 2009 season finally officially started at the beginning of the month at Brands Hatch.
For me, it was the first time racing in England, after competing in 7 other countries around the world throughout my short-career.
To be able to start this adventure on a track as famous as Brands Hatch gave me great pride, especially driving in Formula Palmer Audi. Having competed in the US Barber Mazda Series for the last two years, where the car is only powered by 150bhp, jumping into this 360bhp car with large, slick Avon Tyres is something quite exciting.
In France, Brands Hatch is unfortunately not as well recognized as Silverstone or Donington, but to me, as a motorsport aficionado, it reminds me of images of Prost winning his first F1 world championship, or even images of James Hunt, Jim Clark or Mike Hawthorn racing on that particular track. With those images in mind, I had some butterflies in my stomach when we started my Audi turbo engine for the first practice.
Unfortunately, my weekend didn’t go as well as I expected. After being hit on the second lap of my free practice, I didn’t manage to discover the track before the first qualifying. It was quite tough to be competitive enough without knowing the track, but I decided to take my time, try to bring the car home and take as much experience as I could.
Starting from far back on the grid, I was expecting my races to be long and difficult, which eventually happened, but I did manage to bring my n°14 Van Diemen Audi car from Team Biotech International to the chequered flag without any major incident. The fight in the midfield was tough, and contact between cars quite frequent. But the good thing is that I took as much experience as I could, staying with the main field and pumping in competitive lap times which would have allowed me to fight at the front with better qualifying.
This experience will help me throughout the year, and I am already getting ready for next race at Silverstone. Even so, I recognize that 2009 Formula Palmer Audi is very challenging, with lots of drivers able to reach the top level of motorsport. My own challenge will be to prove I am one of them, and to step up to Formula 2 when the time comes.
Before that, I advise you to watch our Formula Palmer Audi highlights on Motors TV, you will really enjoy it.
Cheers,
Julien
Entries (RSS)
Can you believe it? I read it twice. While I am not as accomplished on this issue, I tally with your conclusions because they make sense. Thanks and goodluck to you.
I just subscribed to your RSS feed, not sure if I did it precisely though? Fine article by the way.
I would hope to be back tracking. Thanks for the good write-up.