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onathan Fildes - Silverstone National Preview |
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Thursday, 05 October 2006 |
Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship front-runner Jonathan Fildes is planning on a weekend of maximum attack at Silverstone National Circuit on 14th/15th October during the season finale at the world-famous Northamptonshire venue.
The 31-year-old Irish superstar, who is sponsored by Asgard Taverns, Applied Signs & Display, Atari Expo and AM Speedsport, hasn’t enjoyed the best of campaigns this year when compared to the incredibly high standards he sets for himself, but the bad luck which has afflicted his championship bid has most certainly not been of his own making.
Widely regarded as one of the premier saloon car racing drivers of his generation, the Co.Meath resident wants nothing more than to end his 2006 campaign with a return to the podium and Jonathan is confident, as long as outside influences don’t affect the outcome of his races, he can challenge for victory at Silverstone next weekend.
“We’re going to adopt some reverse psychology at Silverstone”, commented a wry Jonathan ahead of the season’s finale, “So far this year things have normally gone well in testing and have then fallen away in qualifying and, subsequently, the races. At Silverstone, if the test is lousy then we know we stand a great chance of two wins!
“Seriously, we know we have the car to win and I’m convinced we would have been able to challenge for a podium at the very least during the second Brands Hatch race last time out, had I not been collected by Ben Winrow when he spun at Surtees.”
Currently sixth overall in the driver standings, Jonathan needs two big points scores at Silverstone to stand any chance of finishing in the championship top four which, along with an increased monetary prize, would bring the opportunity to test a works SEAT Leon, as raced in the British Touring Car Championship.
“We’ve shown what we’re capable of this year and had it not been for an incredible amount of bad luck we would have been right up there in the championship, there’s no doubt about that at all”, added the Total Control Racing-run Irishman.
“Unfortunately, qualifying has been beset with problems for the majority of the year and as a result we’ve been at the wrong end of the grid and in the mid-pack where the incidents usually take place. I’ll give my all at Silverstone to finish the year with a couple of strong results though, it’s no more than my sponsors and the team deserve.”
Jonathan’s first track action at Silverstone National Circuit will take place on Friday, 13th October, during two pre-event test sessions. Qualifying for round 17 will follow at 11.00 on Saturday, 14th October, with the round 18 session set to begin at 16.25.
Both races, which will be covered live on Motors TV, will be contested on Sunday, 15th October. Round 17 will start at approximately 11.15 with the 18th and final round of the season scheduled to close the weekend’s action at 17.00.
Motors TV is available to Sky Digital viewers on channel 413 while NTL cable customers should visit channel 545.
2006 Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship Provisional Driver Standings (after rounds 15&16):
| Pos. |
Driver |
Points |
| 1st |
Mat Jackson |
246 |
| 2nd |
Alan Blencowe |
203 |
| 3rd |
Jonathan Adam |
196 |
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| 6th |
Jonathan Fildes |
128 |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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