DISCIPLINE KEY TO NICK PERCAT’S CONSISTENCY
Discipline key Nick Percat’s consistency – Photo: InSyde Media
The start to this season has been Nick Percat’s most consistent with the South Australian crediting a strong routine to an increased focus behind the wheel.
“I’m doing things away from the track that are definitely helping inside the car and the way I go about the racing side of things with the team and maximising that,” Percat said.
“I’m just doing routine stuff that I did when I was at Walkinshaw Racing, it was very disciplined when I was there.
“Last year I didn’t have much discipline, I’m doing a few things from the track that I used to do and it’s definitely starting to work out, 2017 Nick or 2016 Nick would have done something silly and thrown it into the fence. It’s good to see for me personally that that stuff has been sorted out.”
Percat had a tough initiation to the team after a number of incidents, including the pile up in Tasmania, but he currently sits 11th in the points and scored a podium at the Australian Grand Prix. A broken splitter at Phillip Island has been the only setback for Percat and the BJR team, which tasted success with teammate Tim Slade in 2016.
Percat attributed the discipline shown at the start of the season not only as having an effect on him as a driver, but across the team.
“Last year we didn’t get the most out of it and hopefully this year we have ticked off a few things with the car back on the 2016 tyre, I thought we were a bit behind the eight ball on that new tyre last year due to everything that happened,” Percat explained.
“For us to come back on that tyre, I think that’s why we have been a bit more consistent this year and we have new engines with KRE, which is making life much easier. We have a few go fast bits in the car that have made the car a bit nicer to drive, so with every session, we drive in, Sladey and myself can tune the car quite quickly and hopefully develop quite quickly.”
Though he acknowledged the considerable gap between the top teams and the rest was considerable, Percat has taken inspiration from Erebus Motorsport and its championship position and believes his team are edging closer.
“The thing is there are the Penske and Red Bull cars and there’s probably a bit of a gap to the next group of us,” he continued.
“To be honest, Erebus are doing a great job at bridging that occasionally and we all want to be that team to join that fight consistently week in, week out, but I think there is a little bit of work to go and we’re on the right path.”
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