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Goethe taking huge amounts of ‘confidence’ from Spielberg Free Practice performance
Oliver Goethe is hoping to carry his form in the Spielberg Free Practice into Qualifying later today, as he looks to rebound from a tough start to the season.
The MP Motorsport driver impressed in the session, completing a 1:16.978 to beat Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov to the top spot by 0.070s.
“I’m definitely feeling good,” said Goethe. “It's a great start to the weekend. Hopefully the momentum starts here because it's been a couple of bad weekends for me. It's been a tough start to the year.
“We've always known the pace is there, so it's just about getting that momentum back and being in a good rhythm. Hopefully this is the start of that. Obviously full push in qualifying to try to replicate and keep working on what I'm doing.”
Goethe has not scored a point since the opening round of the season, finishing fourth in the Melbourne Feature Race.
So as the 21-year-old looks to return to form, he was asked if he had changed anything in his preparation for Spielberg.
“I've always been preparing as well as I could for all the races,” Goethe responded. “I've been continuing to prepare well.
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“I think the important thing is not to give up and to stay strong in the head because when it's not going right it's easy to go in a downward spiral.
“I just try to stay strong in the head, resetting after every weekend and focusing on the next. That's what I've been doing and then it pays off.”
Looking ahead to qualifying later today, Goethe says he is taking confidence from his Free Practice performance.
“It definitely gives me confidence,” added Goethe. “I've always known my pace has been strong. Like I said, it's the momentum and the rhythm that we need to get back.
“It's good to be back at the top and I'm going to try to continue on that. The confidence is high.”