Wickens looking to sign off season in style
Canadian aiming to continue Spanish form at Barcelona
Fresh from his Euro F3 outing at Dijon last weekend (10/11
October), Robert Wickens insists he wants to finish his season in
the 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship in style and secure second
place in the standings.
The 20-year-old has his sights firmly set on the prize of an FIA
Superlicence, and admits he wants to go one better than his opening
weekend in Valencia where he took two pole positions and two wins,
but missed out to Kazim Vasiliasukas for the fastest lap in race
one.
"Barcelona is my favourite circuit in Europe," he explained,
"and I'm looking to secure second in the championship by going out
with a bang. I've been quick at Barcelona every time I've been
there, and it's important to end the year on a high. Valencia was
my best weekend so far, but I want to go one step further and get
both fastest laps as well as two poles and two wins in
Barcelona.
"The FIA Superlicence is a great motivation, as it really opens
doors and provides you with a lot of opportunities. Just look at
Jaime Alguersauri and Romain Grosjean this year, and even more
recently (Kamui) Kobayashi - they all got their chance because they
had a Superlicence, so it's a great prize to receive."
Having made an exceptional start to his season in Valencia,
Wickens also admitted that the year has not panned out as he had
hoped, but insists that his struggles have only improved him as a
driver. "I'm always learning, always getting better," he remarked.
"It hasn't been an ideal season for me because my goal from the
outset was to dominate the championship, but I had a string of bad
luck which hurt my chances. You just have to keep your head down
and keep going.
"Every time I have finished it has been in the points, and I've
only missed out on the podium on a few occasions, so I've put
together a decent championship. I feel like I've had the pace I
showed at Valencia throughout the season, so at times it's been
frustrating - in Oschersleben for example I finished eighth in race
one, but I had to come through the entire field to do so.
"I try driving anything I can, so I'll also be racing for Kolles
& Heinz the weekend before Barcelona. Obviously the F2 test is
on Monday, so I'll fly over on Sunday night - it will be the first
time I'll have driven two cars in less than 24 hours, but I'm good
at adapting. To be honest if you can't handle the pressure in F2
there's no way you can in F1, so I'm looking forward to the
challenge of performing in both series."