PaddockSpy-Grand Prix Blog

Those are the words of A1 Team Australia’s John Martin, talking about his chances of finally scoring a medal.

Since being promoted from impressive rookie to full-time race driver at Taupo last season, Martin has steadily grown in confidence and stature as he attempts to turn Jackaroo back into a regular podium finisher.

Australia still holds the record for the team with most medal finishers by different drivers – five in all – yet 24-year-old Martin has yet to wear any A1GP metal round his neck, despite being the team’s most capped driver.

But the numbers indicate, he’s close. And getting ever closer. A quick browse through A1GP.com’s Stats Zone shows Martin’s improving performances, particularly in the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car, a vehicle that appears to suit him better than the last machine.

He has finished in the top six positions four times this season, giving Australia 30 points, which puts it in eighth place in the current rankings. It is just that while he has driven every Feature race this season well enough to trouble the points scorers, it hasn’t been enough to trouble the engravers.

Only one driver in the history of A1GP has as many fourth place finishes without going onto scoring a medal place – Switzerland’s Sebastien Buemi (now in Formula 1).

But Taupo may prove to have been the breakthrough race for Martin. Visiting the first track he has raced previously in A1GP, he scored his best two qualifying performances – lining up seventh and fourth for the Sprint and Feature races respectively.

“It’s good to finally be inside the top five in qualifying,” Martin told A1GP.com. “So hopefully from now we can keep going and prove we’re sort of around third or fourth fastest [all the time.]

“If we can keep doing that, then we can hang with guys at the front. Life is a lot easier at the front, let me tell you. We ran well in Malaysia and then in Taupo, so that medal can’t be far away now. It’s got to happen sooner or later. We’ll go to South Africa and see what happens.”

Martin believes that qualifying well is the key that could unlock an elusive medal place, and better yet, Australia’s first gold.

“We had pace in qualifying in Malaysia too, and we should have third of fourth on the grid but unfortunately we got held up by Monaco at the crucial point. In Taupo, we were able to get some clear runs.

“We could have been third in the Sprint race in Taupo, looking at how close we were in the pit stops and seeing how everyone else struggled, but I had a bit of an issue in my pit stop.

“I then got frustrated and tried to make up time and clipped the tyres and that was my race over.

“But I didn’t make any mistakes in the Feature. I could have been close to Portugal after the seconds round of stops but when I came back out on track I got stuck behind South Africa for four laps and that was it.

“We’re close, you know.”