Very much a driver with an impressive learning curve in his first season of ETCR racing, Romeo Ferraris driver Maxime Martin certainly came on strong to take the King of the Weekend crown in Zolder as well as being very much in contention last time out in Vallelunga before being forced to miss his DHL Super Final after the Giulia ETCR he shares with Bruno Spengler was damaged in Spengler’s crash.
Heading into the season finale in Sachsening, Martin still has a mathematic chance to take the first FIA ETCR eTouring Car World Cup title and will certainly be in contention to add to his nine wins so far in the series.
Here’s some quick-fire questions and answers from Martin.
What has been the key to your development in FIA ETCR this year?
I think the key has been to get some time to understand the series, working with the team and have good teammates to learn from…
How would you assess your season? What’s gone well? Where do you need to try harder?
The season has been ok so far but with a bit of lows in the beginning of the season… I think that qualifying has been our biggest struggle in the beginning but it’s a very important part of the championship… We lost a lot of ground in the beginning but came back very strongly until the end of Vallelunga weekend which was unfortunately fatal to be able to fight for the championship.
From the outside the team seems to constantly punch above its weight – how is it from the inside of the squad?
I think the team is definitely doing an awesome job… They have very clever people to run the team and build the cars and it’s translated by the results we are having!
Just how frustrating was it missing the DHL Super Final in Vallelunga for reasons totally out of your control?
Very frustrating ! But the most important thing is that Bruno is ok.
What’s your knowledge of Sachsenring?
I have been there in FIA GT1 2011… a long time ago but apparently the track is still the same 😉
What’s your approach to the season finale?
Same approach as all the rounds…. We will try to score a maximum of points for the manufacturers’ championship.
