From being the very first Jaguar driver to attain a podium in GEN3, doing so in simply the 2nd round, to encountering his colleague Mitch Evans on 2 different events.
Rome showed to be a whirlwind of a weekend for the Brit. First he triggered a crash that erased himself and 5 other rivals out of Saturday’s race, needed his garage to do a complete restore of his car overnight, to standing happy on the podium simply 24 hr later on.
Speaking after his 3rd location lead to Rome, Bird opened about his recent battle in form and how he’s handled to bring himself back to gathering flatware once again.
“All credit to everyone at Jaguar TCS Racing for making me a new car because there was absolutely nothing left of the other one,” he said after his crash in Round 13. “There’s been a great deal of times just recently where I have actually searched in the mirror and seen an extremely average racing driver and the other day was among those. It’s been extremely challenging to select myself up.
“But it’s more relief than anything else today. I’ve attempted my finest, I’ve made a great deal of errors this year, I can’t avoid them, however I’ve constantly provided my finest.
“I haven’t necessarily shown bad speed this year, I’m normally quite quick, but too many mistakes, too many errors and that’s cost me dearly.”
For Bird, the London finale today marks another chance to race on home soil. He’s won here prior to, back at Battersea Park in season one and will wish to end Season 9 on a high.
“Racing on home soil will always be special for me and I’m looking forward to seeing how the Jaguar I-TYPE 6 performs on this track,” Bird mentioned. “I’m going into this weekend feeling determined to do my best for the team in our quest for the team championship.”
Now hosted at the ExCel – a half indoor and half outside circuit – London has its reasonable share of difficulties.
“London is a unique track,” Jaguar TCS Racing’s Technical Manager Phil Charles said about the place. “It has the quickest length of the season at simply over 2km, however it loads 20 corners into that lap which weaves inside and outdoors.
“The indoor area has the greatest grip of the year with the unique grip-paint on the surface area there. The outside area is comprised of tight and twisty cornering and there are kerbs at numerous of the pinnacles of medium speed chicanes.
“As a result, the London circuit is a very technical challenge for the teams. The drivers need to get in a rhythm and blend attacking hard at some of those kerbed chicanes but be smooth in the twisty sections. The revisions in the last sector also give a bit of a reset there, so that will be interesting to see how all the teams adapt to the new turns 15 to 18. We expect an exciting weekend with the backdrop of the two Championships being decided, adding extra spice!”
