Steffi Halm takes you through her Misano weekend and describes the emotions of a successful event which saw the German take two podiums and emerge as a potential race winner once again in the FIA ETRC
After each race weekend we catch up with one of the drivers to get their summary of how it all went.
This time we caught up with Steffi Halm, who made her first appearance in the championship this season at Misano.
Steffi had quite a weekend scoring a third and a second position to send the large Italian crowd in to raptures as she challenged her competitors. Steffi, combined with her 'Wow! Women on Wheels' teammate, Ellen Lohr, scored 53 points in the FIA ETRC Team’s championship.
The popular German racer showed exactly why she is one to watch this year.
Steffi says…….
“We came into this weekend, thinking it was going to be difficult.
“Last year we had some good races, but also some not so good races and we just got the truck finished I think two days before the team travelled to Misano, so we didn’t have time to test.
“Also, I was not able to drive before (Misano) and the truck is completely new, so you never know some little, small mistakes can have a big impact in the race. The last time I raced a truck was last year in Le Mans, which is partly why it was a perfect start and I hope we can take this spirit for the next races.
“I was really happy that after the first two free practices I was in third place and so I said OK its working, because I didn’t know where I stand before. I knew that the truck will be good and maybe it will be better than last year, but before you run it, you never know, and so I was really happy.
“Everybody said, oh you were testing, I said no we really didn’t. We also didn’t expect, or at least I didn’t expect us to be that fast. I think maybe the mechanics knew that the truck would be good, but yeah for me it was a big nice surprise.
“I wanted to be closer to the front than last year and also that the gap should be closer than last year and this was the main target. In the qualifying I was two tenths away and so it was really close and for me I was really happy for sure to get 4th place. It wasn’t like WOW 4th place, it was to be just two tenths behind the pole position which was perfect.
“Then in the races I had some great battles, especially with Jochen (Hahn). In race one I tried very hard to pass him for a podium place, but couldn’t quite find a way through and then in the last race I was battling with him again, but in that part of the race he was much faster.
“I had some trouble with my front axle, it wasn’t turning in so good which is why I was a little bit slower so I had to break earlier and the turn-in speed for the corner was slower. He was very fast and then I made a mistake so he could close the gap even more in one corner. The race was too long to start a fight with him, so that is why I really let him through to save the second place. Janiec and René (Reinert) and all the others they were not so far away and in my mirrors and they were close.
“I am looking forward to the next race as I know Nogaro very well, because I was driving in the French team before, and they are located in Toulouse so it is very close. When we went testing, it was not very often, but when we did, we were in Nogaro.
“I like Nogaro, but it is a very difficult to overtake so it is very important to have a good starting position. I have to do a good qualifying, because always in the qualifying I miss a little bit of the tyres with less experience than some of the other drivers.
“Looking to the driver championship I think I probably cannot challenge to win it, as Jochen (Hahn) and Adam (Lacko) are so very quick, I think they will be very hard to challenge for the championship. But I hope for more podiums and to win some races and for sure I will do my best each time and to score as many points as possible, especially since I was not able to be in Spielberg, but for sure it was good this weekend and then we see.”
Steffi Halm’s weekend in numbers:
|
Qualifying (Superpole) 1 |
4th |
|
Qualifying (Superpole) 2 |
3rd |
|
Race 1 |
4th |
|
Race 2 |
3rd |
|
Race 3 |
5th |
|
Race 4 |
2nd |
|
Position in Driver Championship: |
7th (did not race in Spielberg) |
|
Position in Team Championship (WOW Women on Wheels with Ellen Lohr) |
4th* |
* Subject FIA approval