Paul Di Resta roars to DTM championship glory

Dec 2 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

PAUL DI RESTA roared to DTM championship glory and immediately switched his headlights onto securing a Formula One race seat next season.

The Bathgate Bullet fired his Mercedes supercar to glory in the toughest saloon car series in the world to cap a campaign to remember in which he has also been Force India’s third driver throughout the F1 season.

His stunning title triumph came in Sunday’s season finale in Shanghai and sealed a sensational season behind the wheel.

Di Resta took his place on the grid three points behind championship leader Bruno Spengler, but the Canadian struggled badly in qualifying and had to settle for a lowly 17th on the grid, which meant di Resta would be champ if he finished in the top four.

The West Lothian star admits he was nervous before the race but reckons his ability to handle the pressure helped him on his way to the title.

Di Resta told the Courier: “It has been great year but a long season and a hard battle.

It was nice to win the title although it would have been nice to have won it before the final race although looking back now you don’t mind so much because we won it.

“Of course I was nervous before the race in Shanghai but you have to have adrenaline. That is what creates pressure which is something you have to deal with.

“I think that was the difference on Sunday as the pressure got to Bruno before the race and he didn’t handle it as well as we did.

“Bruno did have a very good start but I think we were unlucky in the opening few rounds - but we never gave up or stopped fighting and that is something you have to do.

“My girlfriend was the only one in Shanghai to see me winning and unfortunately there was no one from my family able to make it but that was

only because of where it was and the time of year.

“But we had a good party with the team, the drivers and everyone involved all season.

“This championship is great for me and the team, but it’s especially important to my family, my supporters and, most importantly, my dad Louis.

“He was the one who gave me the opportunity to go racing when I was a kid and if it hadn’t been for his commitment and belief, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

“My Dad has been involved in racing for 30 years so it was through him I became involved. I would travel with him to races and watching him inspired me to get involved.

“At the end of the day he’s put way more effort into this than anyone else. So I’ve got to say a big thanks to him.”

Now having clinched the DTM Title is eyeing a move up to the starting grid in F1 which he admits has been a lifelong ambition.

He continued: “I want to get a Formula One race seat with Force India next season and getting into F1 had always been my ultimate goal and hopefully I will do that.

“But Mercedes have been very good to me through my career and I don’t want to forget that, so I’m just happy to win the DTM title with them right now.”

Di Resta has more than proved himself on the track while he also has some very vocal supporters championing his case for a race seat.

Legendary driver Sir Jackie Stewart has tipped di Resta to be the next Scots F1 superstar, Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug has also lent his support while Force India Vijay Mallya said recently that di Resta has the “right attitude to make it in F1”.

But for now di Resta is content to reflect on a glorious but somewhat exhausting season in which he has juggled roles in two different motorsports and two very different cars.

He continued: “I did have a busy schedule which involved a lot of travelling but it was all positive stress and it all worked out in the end like we hoped it would.

“Eleven DTM race weekend, plus 19 Formula One grand prix weekends, is a lot of travelling, let alone driving, so I have hardly been at home, especially through the second half of the season.”

Should the race ace, as expected, be handed the keys to an F1 supercar, di Resta will get the chance to renew rivalries with current World Champ Sebastian Vettel and former champ Lewis Hamilton – both drivers di Resta has raced and beaten in the past in the European Formula 3 Championship.

It has been a sensational year for the Bathgate Bullet on the track and for his family who have blazed a trail to title glory in three different fields of motorsport in an unprecedented domination of the sport.

DTM champion di Resta, and his big cousins, who he reveals are ‘more like brothers’, are 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti and 2010 American Le Mans LMP champion Marino Franchitti which is surely a record for domination by one amazing family of West Lothian wonders.