Ireland: ‘GBR isn’t a top team’
With this weekend’s 2007/08 season championship finale at Brands Hatch considered as their home event by both teams, each is out to end the season on a high and take victory on home soil.
With most of the pre-race media hype centered on Great Britain and its aim to secure runner-up spot in this season’s championship with two victories at Brands Hatch, Gallagher has poured cold water on its aspirations, saying he does not consider the red, white and blue car a genuine victory contender this weekend.
He believes Ireland, winner of the Feature race in Mexico last month, is only likely to receive competition for victory this weekend from Switzerland, New Zealand, France, Germany and Portugal.
‘A1 Team Great Britain has a lot of pressure on it this week and a lot to prove after a difficult season for them,’ he said. ‘Many of the smaller nations have learned the tricks of the trade that GBR seemed to have figured out from the first season so they are facing tougher competition than ever before.
‘Although they are ahead of us in the series, we now look past them to the benchmark set by the likes of Switzerland and New Zealand. There’s a natural rivalry between our teams anyway, but Ireland’s no longer simply interested in beating Great Britain – we want to beat the top teams, and they are not one of them.’
Ireland is currently seventh in the standings, but could theoretically overhaul Great Britain and finish as high as third depending on other results.