Alisha Palmowski is aiming high at Zandvoort this weekend, with the Campos Racing driver feeling confident that she can challenge for her first pole position despite a tricky second practice session.
Confidence in the Campos Car
After a promising opening day, where she topped the first practice session time board with a 1:38.196, and finished fourth in the second session just 0.476 seconds off Chloe Chambers. Palmowski reflected positively on her pace and the work of her team: “A solid day,” she began.
“The car’s feeling great, I’ve got a lot of confidence. Campos have done a fantastic job. I love the circuit, I’m just really enjoying myself out there on track. We lacked a little but in FP2, but I know exactly where that time is.”
The British driver admitted that the raw lap times may have painted a slightly misleading picture, but she remains encouraged heading into Saturday.
“It probably looks worse on the timing screen than it actually is. I’ve had scenarios this year where I might have been four tenths off and I’ve got no idea how to find the time. Whereas sat here now, I’m super confident that I know exactly where that time is before even looking at the data.”
Weather chaos
Weather is also expected to play a role in qualifying, with rapidly changing track conditions already challenging their Friday sessions. Session one saw a dusty and windy track, which led to low grip and a lot of spins for drivers. Session two saw rain and important decisions regarding tyre choice.
Palmowski explained just how unpredictable the situation was during practice: “The times totally there, who knows what’s going to happen with the weather tomorrow? That session was just crazy. We had dry, wet, mid, everything in between, so who knows what will happen, but I’m feeling confident.”
She went on to detail the challenges of running in conditions that were too wet for slick tyres but not quite wet enough for full wets. Palmowski said: “It was a shame really because it downpoured that it was too wet for slicks but too dry for wets,”
“We don’t want to wreck our wets, so we did a few laps on the full wet tyres just to scrub them in. Then we did some sort of greasy running on slick tyres but with a greasy damp track, so that was really beneficial because we may be in the same scenario tomorrow.”
Embracing the challenge
While some drivers may dread damp and low-grip surfaces, Palmowski embraces the challenge.
“For Qualifying, it may rain throughout the night and then be damp and greasy. I really enjoy it. It’s just like being in the UK because there’s no grip, it’s really cold and it’s horrible. It’s a different challenge for drivers, but we can look through the data now and see if we could have done a better job. The team changed the setup as well and we made a really good compromise for those conditions straight out the blocks.”
Looking ahead to qualifying, Palmowski expects an incredibly tight battle for pole position.
“We’ll see, it could be anybody’s honestly. I definitely think we’re in the hunt 100%. It’s just going to be about who can piece it together the best. Ultimately, we’re all the same pace. It’s just about who can be the smoothest and deliver a solid clean session, so it’ll be close but I’m up for the fight.”
