Glad all over
Tom Gladdis is enjoying life in Formula Two
Briton Tom Gladdis is the youngest driver in the Formula Two
field, but the 18-year-old is progressing well.
After being thrown in at the deep end in Valencia, Gladdis got
to grip with life in Formula Two during the next two events in the
Czech Republic and Belgium. "It was quite hard at first coming up
against such tough opposition," said Gladdis. "Valencia was tough
but then we got things together for Brno and Spa where I was able
to score points. My performance has levelled out a little since
then - I had a difficult round in Oschersleben, but things seem to
be going well here in Imola so far."
The Gibraltar-based youngster performed well during the two
practice sessions earlier today (Friday) and Gladdis believes he
could have a strong weekend here in Italy. "I was eighth this
morning on old tyres, which was good," commented Tom. "In second
practice I was 14th on really really old tyres, so I was
still pleased to only be only seven tenths of a second off the
pace. My engineer is really helping this week along with lots of
other guys, and things seem to be going really well.
"I played on a computer simulator for four hours before coming
here so I was able to learn the track a little. It is a fast and
daunting circuit but I have really enjoyed it so far today.
Hopefully I can keep the pace up and score some points this
weekend.
"I am improving all of the time and things seem to be coming
together. I'm losing some time in the first chicane so I know where
I need to improve - I feel we are in a good position and I hope to
score my best qualifying position of the season."
Whilst Gladdis is focussed on the remainder of the 2009 season,
he is determined to stay on in F2 for 2010 and mount a championship
challenge. "For the rest of the season it would be nice to keep
scoring points. I would love to be top Brit, which will be
difficult but it is certainly possible. I hope to come back next
year and go for the championship or at least the top five."