SPEAKER_00 0:00

Tom, warm here at Snatterton. Very hot. But uh an interesting session, FP1. Um how's that for you? Because you were just saying to me about you're now the fastest man on used tires, which is your new epithet.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Currently, yeah. So I never went out on new um for a push lap. I only um I was actually warming up I was on just about to do my f for proper flying lap on um new mediums, but the red flag came out. And then I bought it that said put me used softs on because I need to feel a soft before I go into qualify. So we put a U Soft on, which is on quite a lot of running, and yeah, but that's at the top, nearly. Um so I'm quite confident on new tyres. We we we are in the running, I don't want to jinx it, we're in the running for somewhere on the front row, um, and it'd be lovely to get it because um I got this real thing with number three, it's like my race number, isn't it? But this is the third ever um first ever quality race in the history of British drawing cars. So if I could win and get poll on the third ever one being car number three, I quite like that. That's being in the third of the life of its championship, it'd be quite nice to grab it, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Um you mentioned tyres, we've started off talking about tires, and obviously the track temperature is going to mean the tires come to you much more quickly, I guess, but equally will go off much more quickly.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Absolutely, yeah. So in pre-season testing, we were Um and Arn between once past or twice past the pits before dia glimming. Now we're doing an out and in and got more temperature than when we did once past, so uh it's a lot hotter than testing, so um we've still got good balance though, which shocks me. Normally, when it gets that much hotter, you have to do quite a lot of changes to to look after the front tires, but my cars were even better, so we're in a very sweet, sweet spot in the car. Um, so I I'm quietly confident. I don't want to jinx it, like I said, but I I'm most confident I've felt all year so far.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

And the one thing we should just touch on as well is the physical aspect of driving in this heat inside they turn into ovens effectively, don't they?

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yeah, they're very hot. I mean I've got alarms flashing on my dashboard left, right, and centre, because of all the ECU boxes and IPS unit boxes, they're all over temperature. The problem with that is then it can stop your turbo boost working and things like that, and eventually it can shut down. And we've got fans on it, we've raised it off the ground, we've done everything that every other team on the grid's done. It's flashing because it's just so hot in the car. I mean, when I raced in the world touring cars, I remember in Portugal, my on my inlap after the race, which I finished second bit, on the inlap, it it it misfired and then stopped working the car. I was like, why has it stopped working? Luckily it cut out at the chicane at the top of Villa Riyal, and from there it's all downhill to the middle, this big mountain. So I was all just toasting on the clutch all the way back for like four corners and into the pits. And he said, What was it? And they go, the fuel was so hot and the fuel tank it was bubbling and boiling, and it was evaporating before it got into the engine and it cut out. So we were 74 degrees in the car, and the fuel tank was obviously enough to make the fuel boil. So when I got out of the car, I took my gloves off and I held them to the roll cage above my head, and I burnt the skin on my hand holding the roll cage. That's how hot the car was. It was, I remember that weekend it was nuts. It was 40, it's like 45, 46 air, and it was 55 track temperature. And there's 74 in the car. So hot. Um but the cars can only take so much heat, you know, and this weekend it's gonna be the hottest of the year, I reckon. Um so I just pray everything works for me because and if if it does fail, I hope everyone else does at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

I'm really pleased to see it. It's a great start for you, Tom. Have a have a good qualifying.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Thank you very much.