Jeffrey Schmidt fights for points at Zandvoort
Jeffrey Schmidt arrived at Zandvoort for the fifth race weekend of the Porsche Carrera Cup in second place. The Swiss youngster increased his championship points tally with a P11 and a P10 finish but fell somewhat short of what might have been.
Jeffrey, you continued your points-scoring run into the fifth race weekend of the season. But you’re probably not satisfied with eleventh and tenth in the two races…
Not at all! Unfortunately, Zandvoort turned out to be my weakest weekend of 2015. In the circumstances, even two finishes in the points are no consolation. In view of my record so far this season, eleventh and tenth fall short of the standard which I’ve set for myself. After all, I consider myself to be a contender for the championship. I arrived at Zandvoort in second place, and unfortunately, I’ve suffered a setback.
In qualifying, you’re usually a candidate for a place in the Top Three. What went wrong at Zandvoort?
Since last weekend’s Supercup at Silverstone, my car has lost some of its straight-line speed. We were using a new engine there because my proper engine is currently being overhauled. After encountering problems at Silverstone, we decided to fit a new unit for Zandvoort. The engine itself was fine, but my car wasn’t running at all well. I had extreme understeer in all of the sessions; in fact, I could hardly steer at all. I was around 1.2 seconds down on the leading group, which was far too much for our actual level of performance. So I effectively went into qualifying with one hand tied behind my back, and there was no way we were going to finish higher than twelfth and eleventh.
There wasn’t a lot you could do about this in the races either, was there?
No, unfortunately not. I got off to good starts and avoided making any mistakes in the two races. I kept pushing at 110 percent, but I couldn’t do anything with the car. We put an extreme amount of grip on the front wheels, but that still didn’t stop the understeer. So I didn’t have much of a chance. It was very strange, and there is now a big question mark over the weekend. I had the same setup as my teammates who scored a lot of points this weekend. After the first race, we replaced the shock absorbers and thoroughly checked out the springs, but they weren’t the problem. Next Wednesday, we are testing at Spa-Francorchamps. Hopefully, we’ll find a solution there. Our team is made up of 100% professionals, so I’m confident about this.
In the championship, you’ve dropped from second to fifth place. How do you deal with that knowledge?
The lost points from Zandvoort obviously pain me. It’s annoying, because it was effectively beyond my control. In five out of the seven previous races, I’ve finished in the Top Five, and I’ve also consistently been among the front-runners in qualifying. It’s not as if I’ve suddenly forgotten how to race at Zandvoort. But anyway, I intend to learn lessons from this and, together with my team, emerge stronger for the experience. I’m only eleven points behind the second-placed driver in the championship. If I can revive the form I’ve been displaying for most of the season, I’ll claw my way back. This just makes me all the more determined to battle for more podiums and points.
In two weeks’ time, you’re back in action in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Compared to some of the other drivers, you’re not quite as familiar with the Hungaroring in Hungary. How will you approach the weekend?
My first outing at the Hungaroring was in last year’s Porsche Carrera Cup. Some of my opponents have a lot more experience of this Formula 1 track. But I’m not worried. I’m able to adjust quite rapidly to unfamiliar conditions. The track is very twisty, especially in the middle sector with its combinations of left and right-hand turns. It’s important to get the braking points right and to take the corners in a clean, sweeping motion. Otherwise, you can lose a lot of time. With its long history, the Hungaroring is a track that has plenty of character and great appeal for the fans. I’m expecting the grandstands to be packed when we arrive there as part of the Formula 1 weekend. Spectators should bring along an adequate supply of sunscreen, because experience has shown that this is a very hot time of the year. In the cockpit of our Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, the temperature can go as high as 65 degrees.
