Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell heads to Donington Park as a championship contender, despite ending the first round of the season at Oulton Park in last place in the standings. It’s been an astounding recovery since that weekend, and he admits he’s going to be giving it everything over the next few days.
Here’s how the British driver is feeling ahead of the event.
How do you sum up your season as a whole?
“It’s been a good year, but a year of what could have been. Our pace has been really good throughout. Sadly some things haven’t gone our way, it seems that like whenever anything is 50/50 it doesn’t go our way. It’s been a shame because for sure we could be fighting with the top-three at this round. We’ve not quite maximised every situation but the last couple of rounds have been good, I’ve found some good form and hopefully we can keep that going into the weekend."
This is your second season in GB3, how pleased are you with the progress you’ve made?
“It’s very satisfying, we knew going into this year that we were going to be fighting at the front, because our pace in testing looked very good. Especially off the back of last year, even though the results didn’t really come, the pace was certainly improving towards the end of last year. We knew that if everything went to plan, we’d be fighting at the front, which is luckily what happened. We’re always trying to find that little bit more, especially to the top three guys in the championship, they have been there every single weekend. So that’s what we’ve been trying to focus on and maximise on, but it’s been a good step up from last year for sure."
With the exception of Oulton Park, you’ve scored big points at every round, and your current run of podiums is stronger than anyone else on the grid. How much effort has it taken to mount that sort of prolonged comeback to eradicate that virtual non-score at Oulton?
“It’s always difficult, I was last in the points standings after round one, so we knew we had a lot of ground to cover. It’s been about trying to maximise every weekend, and make sure we’re keeping in the top-five everywhere we go, keep the podiums coming and make sure that we don’t have any bad rounds. We struggled slightly at Snetterton but other than that we’ve been on the podium at every round and in the last couple of rounds we’ve been on the podium in both main races, including a win at Silverstone, so it’s going in the right direction for sure. I’m still not satisfied, we want to be winning at least once a weekend, but it’s been a good turn of form for sure. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going into Donington and round off the season on a high."
We saw at Zandvoort how a big gap to the championship leader can be almost eradicated in a couple of races. Does that give you confidence that you can do the same?
It’s all to play for, it’s going to be tricky and we’re going to have to have a really good weekend to clinch the title, but stranger things have happened. We’re just going to be giving it everything and make sure we leave nothing on the table, no stone unturned if we’re struggling for pace. So we’re going to give it everything, see what happens, hopefully get a couple more wins and see where we are."
What would it mean to you if you were to win the championship?
“It would mean so much, after round one I was questioning a lot of things for sure. At the start of the year I saw the guys at the front and I knew that I should be up there with them and we just weren’t. So it was a rough start to the year and if we were to win the championship it would make it that much more special, because we’ve had to come back against the odds. So it would definitely be a dream come true to win the championship. It’s going to be tricky, but I’m going to be giving it everything.”