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Outstanding Year for F3 Euro Champion Di Resta |
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Tuesday, 19 December 2006 |
 Scottish motor racing star Paul Di Resta can rightly reflect on 2006 as a truly remarkable year, the 20-year-old securing an outstanding double with championship victory in the Formula 3 Euroseries and a classy win in the prestigious BP Ultimate Masters event.
The 2004 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner, who continues to call Bathgate in West Lothian his home town, firmly established himself on the world stage this year as a genuine contender for future Formula One glory and is now waiting to see whether 2007 will bring a graduation to GP2 or a move to the world-renowned DTM touring car series.
Contracted to the Mercedes-Benz Junior Motorsport Programme, Paul is
most certainly one of Britain’s hottest prospects in world motor racing
and having proven his credentials in the globe’s most competitive and
challenging Formula 3 championship, he clearly deserves the opportunity
to climb the ladder all the way to the top.
With a total of six race wins during the season, including his
memorable victory in the annual BP Ultimate Masters stand-alone event
at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, and a further four podiums to his
credit, Paul delivered yet another F3 Euroseries title success for the
French ASM team and now aims to continue his rollercoaster of success
in 2007.
“It’s been an absolutely fantastic year for us and I’d like to thank
Mercedes-Benz for giving me the opportunity to race with ASM in the
Euroseries”, said the Scotsman, “Our aim at the start of the season was
to win the championship and to have added the Masters victory as well
was the icing on the cake really.
“We’re still unsure where we’ll be racing in 2007, no decisions have
been made just yet, but we are working hard with Mercedes to give me
the best possible opportunity to succeed in whichever championship the
company feels is right for me at this stage of my career. Obviously GP2
or the DTM would be amazing – we have to wait and see.”
With three podiums from the opening four races of the season, Paul
immediately established himself as a true favourite for the F3
Euroseries crown and during the fifth round of the year at
Oschersleben, he converted second on the grid into his first victory of
the campaign.
After the first three race meetings, which all took place in Germany,
the F3 Euroseries faced a lengthy six-week break ahead of the
championship’s maiden visit to the UK and the seventh and eighth rounds
of the season at Brands Hatch in Kent.
As near to a ‘home’ event as Paul would experience all year, the
weekend started brilliantly for the Scot who not only secured pole
position for the opening race but also went on to enjoy a superb
victory and post the race’s fastest lap.
Under the rules of the F3 Euroseries, the grid for the second race of
any given weekend is determined by reversing the top eight finishers
from the opening encounter so, with that in mind, Paul started the
second Brands Hatch race from eighth on the grid and went on to finish
a highly creditable fifth on the tight and twisty Indy configuration.
The championship returned to German soil at the end of July for rounds
nine and 10 at the Norisring and Paul immediately re-appeared on the
top step of the podium with his third win of the season during the
first of the weekend’s races.
Faultless BP Ultimate Masters Victory
Although there was a four-week break in the actual F3 Euroseries
Championship calendar, the series competitors returned to the track in
early August alongside the cream of F3 drivers from national
championships across the globe during the annual BP Ultimate Masters
race at Zandvoort – formerly known as the Marlboro Masters.
Disappointed to miss out on pole position, Paul made a superb start to
the race and dealt admirably with intense pressure from ASM team-mate
Giedo van der Garde throughout to take an outstanding and memorable
victory after 25 hard-fought laps.
“Like the F3 Euroseries title, victory at the Masters was a goal at the
start of the year so for us to win such an important and historic race
really was a dream come true”, said Paul, “It certainly wasn’t an easy
win, Giedo put me under a lot of pressure, but my laps were
consistently smooth and fast and that was what I needed to do.”
The F3 Euroseries campaign resumed at the famous Nurburgring in Germany
two weeks after the Masters event and having recorded yet another
podium with second position during round 11, what would have been
Paul’s fourth championship win of the season was stripped away in
highly controversial fashion.
An attempted overtaking manoeuvre on team-mate van der Garde ended up
with both cars touching and the Dutchman spinning as he tried to block
the move. Without doubt a result of the wet track and certainly not
down to any wrong-doing on Paul’s part, the championship officials
nonetheless served him with a 30 second penalty.
Harsh by anyone’s standards, the decision didn’t affect Paul’s placing
at the head of the driver standings though and for the return to
Zandvoort for rounds 13 and 14, the ASM sensation hit-back instantly
with pole position and victory during the first race.
Paul’s last win of the season came during the 17th round of the
championship at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit in France, an excellent
result from fifth on the grid, and the title was then secured during
the season finale at Hockenheim in Germany.
“To win the championship in my second season of Formula 3 racing is an
achievement I am very proud of”, commented Paul, “It’s been an amazing
year competing with ASM and I want to thank the team for bringing me on
so much as a driver. Hopefully 2007 will be another successful year,
I’m looking forward now to a fresh challenge.”
Having tested in GP2, the final single-seater rung on the ladder to
Formula One, and also DTM in recent weeks, the world’s premier touring
car series, Paul must now wait to see where Mercedes-Benz will place
him in 2007.
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