Aaron Slight Q&A
Kiwi Aaron Slight unexpectedly led seven and a half laps on his British Touring Car Championship debut for Peugeot at Donington Park on Sunday. OK, four of them were under the safety car and the rest were due to the pit-stop sequence, but he still had to fend off the all-conquering Vauxhall Astra hordes for two and a half laps. Here's what he thought of the weekend
"It's a lot different to that. It's slower obviously because of the new rules, but even the Honda didn't feel that fast. Certainly not compared to bikes. Out of the corners on a bike you're wheel-spinning and sliding, but on the other hand, in a touring car your braking distance is half the length."
"Yeah... It's a different kind of fun. Any racing is always great fun."
"I haven't got much left to prove in superbikes, and then there's my age and the brain op I had. I've got to do something else. It's a good move for me."
"It was great. That was really good - just finding out the limits and how close you can get to the other cars. I looked in my mirror coming down to Redgate and saw two Vauxhalls and was wondering, 'are they close enough?' I was turning in not knowing and waiting to see whether they touched me."
"I half expected it. I was holding him up. I knew my race was run because I still needed to make my pit stop, but I was trying to slow the Vauxhalls so that [team mate] Dan Eaves could keep up. Muller came round my outside into the Esses, and then I got a huge tap from Plato at the hairpin and it just spun the car right out. Then Thompson whacked the wheel and broke the driveshaft."
"I won't be doing any testing because the rules don't allow it. Anyway, I had a problem on Saturday morning because the steering rack was wrong, and that was giving me bad feedback, and I was still going much quicker on the last lap of qualifying. It's just knowing what to do - you've just got to learn really."
"That's why we left Brands Hatch clear. I've been talking to a few teams. But I'm in a Catch 22 here. I've never driven at Bathurst or in a V8 and that's what they want, but how can I get to do it for the first time? I'm a good friend with [fellow Kiwi] Greg Murphy, so I've talked to his team [Holden's factory-affiliated TWR Kmart squad] and a few other people."
"It's best to get this year sorted really. Peugeot took a big gulp when they signed me, but I've proved I can drive. Now we need to find something concrete, especially as this championship's going to grow."
Feature race: Plato performs
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