Di Resta eyes twilight zone pointsposted in F101 | 11 | 2013
FIVE DAYS AFTER scoring crucial world championship points having finished eighth in India, Bathgate's Paul di Resta is back in action this weekend at one of the most spectacular races of the year, Abu Dhabi.
Seventh-fastest in this morning's opening free practice, and clearly refreshed and recharged after a couple of days' break in Dubai, the 27-year-old Scot is confident he and his Sahara Force India team can continue their recent run of form.
"We've built on the performance we first showed three weeks ago in Japan, and India was the natural improvement on that," Di Resta said.
"We’ve had a tough run of things lately, so to get two cars in the points at the team’s home race certainly gave us something to smile about.
"Scoring points in India was a massive boost for everyone in the team, and we head to Abu Dhabi determined to continue that level of pace and improvement.
Related: Points haul in India for Paul di Resta
"We've three races to go in the season, and we're sitting sixth in the Constructors' Championship, with a 23-point lead over our nearest rival. We missed out on sixth last year, and we've no intention of repeating that this year.
"The direction we’ve taken with the car recently is more of a back-to-basics approach, which has helped. It’s given me more confidence and I can be more committed with the car.
"Obviously that’s really important for a driver, and it will help us for both qualifying and the race, which is always one of the highlights of the year for me.
"There's something really special about the twilight race: starting in daylight and finishing in the dark, with all the fantastic lights and architecture round the area of the circuit is pretty spectacular.
"It's a bit like Singapore, from an experience point of view: and the track is pretty similar too because it’s mostly low-speed, and that should suit our car quite well.
"As I said before, we all feel better now that we're moving in the right direction again with the car, and it would be brilliant to leave on Sunday night with a few extra world championship points in the bag."
Related: Vettel claims fourth successive world title
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Jim McGill