This has been my first ever visit to the USA, but I certainly hope it won’t be my last!
It’s true that everything is bigger in Texas- the Circuit of the Americas is an amazing facility, and fortunately we came to grips with the new circuit quickly.
Since New Zealand, the whole team has been working flat out to turn things around, and the efforts are now starting to pay dividends. Three one-two results for Red Bull Racing Australia from the weekend show that we are well and truly back on track.
Jamie had a fantastic weekend; he got on top of the new track quickly, and had a very fast race car. My side of the garage was also a happy place- we had good pace and great strategy to be able to challenge at the front of the field for results.
The upside of the points haul from the weekend is that I’m now back up into second place in the standings before Hidden Valley, a track that I really enjoy. Hopefully we can continue to develop the car, and understand what takes to be competitive on the different tracks coming up later this season.
There are only four more sprint rounds until the enduros, so we’ve got to keep on top of the game ahead of the big points races!
Out of the car, the weekend was an incredible experience. All of the American fans were so welcoming and polite, they love their racing in this part of the world, and they really embraced V8 Supercars.
Everywhere we went around town, the locals were very knowledgeable of the championship, which was really a pleasant surprise.
That said there were an awful lot of Australians who made the trip over here too… and why not?! Austin is a great city, it has a real party atmosphere, and there are lots of things to see and do.
If you watched the TV coverage you probably saw the piece we filmed at Austin’s famous Allen’s Boots store. Along with Tim Slade and David Reynolds, we checked out some of the local attire, and to be honest, I quite liked some of the get-ups I tried on!
Of course when Davey came out of the dressing room wearing a cowgirl dress, we lost it! I haven’t laughed that hard in a very, very long time…
After the race I headed up to Whistler in Canada for a spot of mountain biking with some of the guys from the team, including Casey, JJ, Adrian and Ludo… and it’s fair to say there were a few madmen in the pack!
The final stop before I headed home was the Indy 500. I couldn’t wait, as it’s one of those bucket list events you always want to visit. It was definitely worth the trip!
One thing’s for sure, it felt a bit strange going to a track and not driving a race car!
