A quick interview with Michael Mallock
Thursday, August 20, 2009
A quick interview with Michael Mallock before the Zolder weekend
So, tell us about your career so far
“I've had quite a varied career and driven in all types of cars. I started in karting like most of us do. I had a very short lived career in single-seaters because I didn't fit and then moved into sports cars and GTs. I won the National Supersports Championship in the UK, which was a sports prototype championship. Then I moved to the World Sportscar championship, as it was back then for a couple of years. Since then I've driven all types of cars: GT1s, GT2s, prototypes, historic cars; basically anything anyone put me in.”
You come from a family of racing drivers?
“My family's been involved in racing since my grandfather. Last year was the 50th year of the Mallock family as a constructor in motorsport. We've got a good history of racing within the family. My father's got a good business at the moment and is still involved, going racing when he can, but most of the driving falls on my shoulders nowadays.”
How does the GT4 compare to other series you've done?
“It is very different. Most of the cars I've been racing recently are GT1 cars and last year I was driving for Mercedes in the SLR Trophy, which is much more of a GT1 type car with all of the downforce and the power and that kind of thing. It's very different in that respect and also with the balance of performance measures that are brought in, which is relatively new for series that I've been in. There has quite a lot of frustration on that side. It's a good series for younger or GT drivers with less experience to get in and get a feel for how a GT meeting works. They're good fun cars to drive, because they haven't got much grip, which is always entertaining, and they've got high amounts of power and it's always very close racing. “
Do you think your run of bad luck is over now?
“I hope so. We've all worked hard at RS Williams and Aston Martin to solve the issues that plagued our season last year and the start of this year. We made a big step forward in Oschersleben this year where we had a car that was able to compete for a whole race distance without suffering the same issues. And obviously at Spa we had a much better weekend. We certainly had luck go our way at Spa, because to be honest, on pace, we're still slower than most of the competition. These races are a lot more about thinking what you're doing than trying to do your best time over every lap. We're hoping that we'll have more luck go our way; hopefully we've got a consistent car now, and I can keep on the track and that we can get some good results.”
Is this your first time at Zolder?
“I actually did about 15 laps here quite a while ago, the day before my 18th birthday, so about 9 years ago. I tested the GLPK Viper. It's a bit of a different car, a big GT1 car with lots of power, and it was nine years ago, so it's not exactly fresh in my memory. It's a neat little circuit, but it's very technical and it's really going to suit cars like the Ginetta, and obviously the Porsche is still quite a step ahead of us. It's a good little circuit and will provide close racing.”
Any hopes for the rest of the season?
“We're looking for good results. It's all we're looking at really. We haven't even thought about next year properly. The objective now is to capitalise on the fact that we've got a good consistent car. This isn't our best circuit and Algarve won't really suit us either, but we'll give it a really good shot and we'll certainly aim to be the fastest Aston Martin again and hopefully we'll be the fastest of most of the rest of the cars as well!”
