新闻 - Yeongam podium a missed opportunity for Steve Peters?

Yeongam podium a missed opportunity for Steve Peters?

While Blue Goat Racing were celebrating Steve Peter's third place in the last rookie series race at Yeongam, the 19 year old Brisbane driver was forthright about his mixed feelings about his inconsistent results since the previous rookie series events at Dubai and the end of the F3GP series at the Nurburgring. "After a strong fifth in qualifying, we looked set for a really great outing at Yeongham, but crashing out of the first race on lap 8 while running third - and not even under pressure from the next car behind - was extremely frustrating and didn't set us up for success in the next race. Sure, I made up 25 positions to finish third in the second race - ten of those positions in the first two laps - but I can't help but wonder how much closer I would have been to Vongsakorn Aulong (the 18 year old Finn who had a commanding 15-second win) if I had a good finish in the first race."

Peter's mental coach Brian Bowditch confided that after a string of DNF's and other indifferent results in single races, brightened only by a 10th place in Singapore, his training regime would need to change. "Steve started out naturally patient and cautious for a driver of his age and maturity, but as his pace has increased he has perhaps become overconfident, and we need to refine his racing style and start to emphasize his ability to take the long view rather than pushing too hard in every corner or every overtake. His last effort from the back of the grid at Yeongham was a good demonstration of his growth in this aspect and his mental toughness, but we can't forget another driver in the same race had just as strong a performance" (Latvian youngster Vakaris Rudokas started alongside Peters on the second-last row and finished almost 12 seconds ahead of Peters in second).

While he has had some encouraging drives so far, Peters knows he has a long way to go before he can expect significant advancement. "My main effort this season will be to chase podiums in the rookie series, and now F3GP is over I will be competing in Africa Cup XXXV and hope to surpass my F3GP record (three top 10 finishes and 8 points) while gaining some more experience that will hopefully see me secure an entry in next season's F3 Australian Series. If that doesn't come off, I will look at some of the smaller European series - while moving up to a regional F3 series, F2 or even further are long term aspirations, we have a lot of work to do as a team to be competitive at these levels and attract enough attention from sponsors to get in the door. But don't worry ... Blue Goat Racing will get there."