Voices from the podium of Race 2 in Navarra

The second round of the Ferrari Challenge UK Trofeo Pirelli held at the Navarra circuit was also very eventful. Below the podium the protagonists of the two classes, Trofeo Pirelli and Coppa Shell, commented on their performances.

Pranav Vangala (HR Owen), winner in Trofeo Pirelli:

Gilbert Yates (Charles Hurst), second in Trofeo Pirelli: “The race started off pretty well, I got a good gap of 4 seconds at one stage. Then after 10 laps, the tyres started to go off. I started to manage them, but they just fell off a bit of a wall and nothing was there – I couldn’t even get mid-corner speed, or get on the throttle!”.

Calum Leathem (Charles Hurst), third in Trofeo Pirelli: “Very tiring, I was by myself a lot which was fun because I was in third, but boring because I was by myself. I encountered a few lapped cars which was frustrating, but they did move out of the way pretty quickly. I’m just really tired! I was losing my focus at the end and sliding a little bit but caught it, so I’m very satisfied”. 

Mike Dewhirst (Dick Lovett Swindon), winner in Coppa Shell:

Peter Hunter (Stratstone Manchester), second in Coppa Shell: “It was tough. It was hard. The pressure was on behind me. I had to put pressure on the people in front of me. There were a lot spins, a few accidents, I thought a Safety Car might come out. I was preparing for the worst, and I just listened coach, who is fantastic. I just got my head down did exactly what he told me to do every lap, he was aking me to take 2/3 tenths of a second off, managing tyre degradation and pushing to the point of slip and I just carried on. It was fantastic and we've just taken another podium 2 days in-a-row!”.

Paul Simmerson (Graypaul Birmingham), third in Coppa Shell: “A very eventful race really. Started P2, managed to get Mike Dewhirst quite early on, tried to pull a gap, then we hit some slower cars. Then I thought a car was going to turn in on me, so I had to run wide. Dewhirst then went through, I was chasing him down. Went into the turn at the bottom of the hill and I thought I could get up the inside and force him out wide, but the rear end went and span me round. I ended up with about 4 cars between me and Dewhirst, managed to get a few of them then I sat behind Peter Hunter, who drove a fantastic race – the best I’ve seen him drive! Revenge will be sweet”.