The inaugural season of the Eurocup-3 Championship has reached it’s halfway point, the series having visited some of the most prestigious tracks across Europe. The season so far has had it’s highlights and challenges for Gilkes, but how has the season gone from his perspective? “I feel like we’ve had solid pace but the results haven’t been able to show that for us yet” says Nick. “There’s always something which has seemed to stop us from finishing where we really deserve. The nice thing about this is that we know it’ll turn around eventually, and it’s really just a matter of time before we are fighting for what we expected at the start of the year.”
Ups and downs
Gilkes first taste of a Eurocup race weekend came in round one at Spa Francorchamps, which contained one of his personal highlights from the year so far. “I think the front row at Spa in Q2 was pretty exciting. It was great to start off on such a high in the first weekend and I am convinced we can do even better in the second half of the season. It’s always nice to be at the front, and we’ll for sure be returning there soon.” Not everything has been smooth sailing, as entering a new team environment, new tracks and learning a new car always have their challenges. “I think learning the new circuits in Europe has been a challenge.” responds Gilkes when questioned on the toughest hill to climb this year. “We’ve found when I return to a track, I tend to go reasonably well there – but having never been to Aragon, Monza, or Zandvoort before the race weekend we always knew it would be a challenge. Ultimately it should be better as the year goes on as I’ve been to circuits such as Valencia and will have been to Barcelona, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Rating the season as a whole (E-A*)
“I think it’s been a C.” Nick summarised. “There have definitely been flashes of pace, but ultimately we’ve been both unlucky and I’ve made a few mistakes. We’ve seen and know that we can be fast on a relatively consistent level, but issues like the starts have stood in our way. I think as a team we know what we need to do for the rest of the season and I’m sure we’ll be able to move forward together.” Gilkes now looks ahead to the fifth round of the season, commencing on September 23rd at the iconic Jerez circuit.
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