At the A1GP race in Sydney, Australia, we caught up with Robbie Kerr. After a successful 2007 season which saw the Brit finish second in class at Le Mans, we were able to see what he thought about his 2007 season, his A1GP and his plans for 2008.
How has your A1GP season gone so far?
The season has been very mixed. Here at Eastern Creek after an unfortunate gamble that lost us a good points score, we had to make sure we made it count in the second race. We were quick but not quite on the pace of South Africa unfortunately. Once he got some clear air he could put some laps together. We did not get clear air when the car was feeling good so to finish third we are quite happy with it and now we have just to focus on the Championship and make sure we continue to finish on the podium.
The weekend didn’t start well but finished well, how much will that momentum help you in South Africa?
The weekend didn’t start that well. On Friday night our engineer got taken to hospital with a broken leg in an unfortunate incident so we were going to struggle throughout Saturday. Thank god he has been able to be here today although he has not been feeling too good so hopefully James gets well soon. We have to be fairly confident going into South Africa, we have had good results there before and we just have to make sure we do it once again.
Your engineer suffered the freak accident after a hose pipe from an opposing team hit his leg, will he make a full recovery?
His leg should make a full recovery but if he can make it to the next race, we are not too sure yet, we will wait and see what is going to happen.
It has kept me in the car and it is really a car that requires concentration at the highest level so you have to be really focused on what you are doing and it’s a good car to drive.
In 2007 you raced in multiple series including Le Mans, can you tell us more about your 2007 season?
2007 was a good season. I went well every time I got into a car. I drove for Zytek at Le Mans with their LMP2 car and it was on pole, got the quickest lap of the race but due to car reliability problems we finished second. Otherwise we would have finished first in the class and easily finished in the top six overall so it was disappointing to have those problems. On the back of that I got the chance to go to America to drive for Acura and the Highcroft team in the ALMS at Petit Le Mans which was a fantastic experience. Unfortunately there we had a starter motor problem which lost us a lot of time in the pits and the guys had to replace the starter as it would start the car. It was such a great experience to work with those great teams doing such tremendous races in two very different countries.
What can we expect for you in 2008?
For 2008 there are a number of offers to do sportscars again and we will take time to look at the offers to make sure we pick the right offer to progress my career.
How is driving in A1GP compare to the other series you have competed in?
It’s good, it’s a friendly atmosphere. Everyone is happy for you when you do well and disappointed for you when you don’t do quite so well but it has been great. It has kept me in the car and it is really a car that requires concentration at the highest level so you have to be really focused on what you are doing and it’s a good car to drive.
Thank you very much
Thanks
Interview and article by Sam Tickell on 10 February 2008
