COTA winning memories for Paul Di Resta

While the 2024 season has seen a lot of ups and downs for the Peugeot TotalEnergies team, Paul Di Resta has some happy memories of the last visit to Austin, standing on the top step of the LMP2 podium with United Autosports.  

“I remember the start there was we made a bit of a mistake with tyre pressures, and we absolutely died in the first stint,” Di Resta said. “We were losing, like three, four seconds a lap. From there on in, we knuckled down, got our head down, and just fought our way back to a convincing win. 

“It was obviously before the pandemic, so it seems like a lifetime ago, but that whole season was just unique in the sense that we wherever we needed to turn it on, we had an answer to anything anybody threw at us, and I remember we're fighting at times with the cars, and then you get to the end of the race, and we're just like in in a different world. So, it was great, all the way through that whole championship the key thing was just the consistency.”

 So has Paul Di Resta been back to CoTA since 2020?  “I was there testing three or four weeks ago and it's hot. However, I think the key thing is how much the track has changed with the bumps over the course of time because of the land that's built on, it's obviously sinking in places. 

“It's a bit more like a roller coaster at some places but I believe there'll be some resurfacing as well. 

“It's always a challenge when it's hot and Texas can be mighty hot. I think it's getting into more normal temperatures This weekend, I think in the mid 30s, which is more than what drivers can deal with.”

“The circuit is so demanding. Sector one is very high speed, very high load. When you get into the later stage of the lap, from turn 12 onwards, it turns into a very slow kind of street track feel, where you can run two or three abreast. 

“I remember at the time when I was racing P2 there. I know the hypercars are a bit bigger, but I suspect it will be a bunched-up race. The Circuit of The Americas is a good track to put on the calendar.

So how about the season so far with the Peugeot TotalEnergies team?

“I think with the recent pace we've had, we can only go and honestly see if we can get into the points. I think eighth place, or something like that, would be a good job. 

“There's no denying that our competition is a step ahead of us now, we’ve found it hard to unlock the last bit of potential that this package has brought and we're not quite there yet.  We're building the foundations to that. We had a very good test and explored some different things, and we'll go there and try and do what we can. 

“We seem to get slightly closer when we come into the race on the Sunday. If you look at Sao Paulo, when you have a clinical race, we can put ourselves, certainly in 93 managed to put themselves into fighting spirit. So, we try and take the strong points of tyre degradation and tyre understanding.  We try and use our our sixth sense, to try and bring something different to the race while we are on the back foot. We are going to Texas knowing it's going to be a difficult weekend.”