Kiwi motorsport ace Mitch Evans is feeling increasingly comfortable in his new car as the GP2 series resumes in Bahrain this weekend.
Evans spent the early part of the week in Dubai, getting himself ready for the heat of Bahrain.
Evans is looking to cash in on his exciting start to the series where his 10th and 3rd placings in the season-opening meeting in Malaysia have the rookie sitting sixth on the points table.
His Arden International team have done plenty of work on his car since his debut on the Sepang circuit in Kuala Lumpur last month and Evans declared: “She’s all ready to get a thrashing”.
That will come on another circuit that is foreign to the 19-year-old Aucklander.
“It’s another track I haven’t raced at … (I’m) super excited and keen to get out there,” Evans said of the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain where the GP2s race as a support act to the latest round of Formula One.
Evans felt his time in Dubai earlier in the week had been spent wisely “to acclimatise to the Middle East heat before we get down to business in Bahrain”.
Practice and qualifying sessions lead into the two races which will be held on Saturday night and Sunday night (NZ time).
Evans felt the biggest learning curve for him in the powerful new car was managing the tyres over the longer races.
“That has been the hardest thing to get used to. I will keep learning and hopefully keep getting stronger and hopefully be challenging for maybe the race win later in the year,” he said.
“I feel a lot more comfortable in the car. I don’t have to worry about that. Also, now I have experience in the race and know how the tyres work in these hot conditions which hopefully will help me in Bahrain.
“So hopefully we can improve again in Bahrain. That would be incredible. If we match it (the Malaysian debut) I would be very happy about that as well.”
