They said what? Goodyear FIA ETRC drivers look ahead to Jarama

Antonio Albacete (Spain): “For me to race at Jarama is fantastic. It’s my home race, 25 kilometres from where I live. It’s always very good to race there, it’s an old-shape circuit and quite demanding. But I like to be there and I always like to race there. It’s a little bit narrow but it’s good for truck racing. It’s a challenge with some tricky corners and also some fast ones when you come down the hill. It’s demanding and you have the heavy braking before the left-hander. It’s fantastic to win at Jarama, it’s always great, even for the fans. As we are not playing for the championship, sometimes it’s worth to finish eighth for the reverse grid. Jochen [Hahn] and me are winning there the most so there will be a fight for that title.”

Luke Garrett (Great Britain): “Jarama has always been my favourite track, even when my dad (Ross) was racing. I love Jarama but we just haven’t had any luck there. We’ve never nailed the set-up, but I love the track when it goes up and down, the aggressive surface, the corners and the banking. I always look forward to it, but I just need a little bit of luck. Fingers crossed we’ll get that this year.”

Steffi Halm (Germany): “I love Jarama. It’s like an old-school track, going up and down. You have some corners you don’t see the exit, so it’s a very tough track but I love driving at Jarama. Sometimes it’s worked very well, but sometimes not. It depends how you get the set-up done for the track. We’ve had some great results in the past, but for sure the most important thing is to have a good qualifying, that’s the reason why we struggled a bit this season, the qualifying was not good enough, so I hope we can finish on the podium in Jarama but not only in the reverse-grid races.”

Luis Recuenco (Spain): “For me, Jarama is the benchmark circuit. It is the track where I have gained the most experience, it’s where I started racing in 1988, and where I have been able to put everything I have learned into practice. I am Spanish, and the circuit is very close to home. I enjoy every corner, every braking zone and every racing line. I also really enjoy the atmosphere and the people. At the end of the day, we are all from the same city, so there is a very special connection with the spectators. My goal is simply to do the best job possible. I believe that will allow me to achieve better results and, above all, to feel more fulfilled and more in tune with myself as a driver.”

José Eduardo Rodrigues (Portugal): “Jarama is five hours from my home so it’s my home race and I feel very good in Jarama. Normally I have good results there. This year is no different and I try to push to the maximum. For me the track is not easy but I like Jarama. I’ve raced there many times, so I have a good reference there. Maybe after Zolder it’s my second favourite race track. We have a lot of fans there, Portuguese people, Spanish people so it’s very good for me and I try to be calm and try to do a good result for the fans.”