definitely help me when I get overseas, I'll be pushing myself 100 percent. It's good to get your mind into that mode and environment and this year's definitely been good preparation. nil
What's it been like working with Team BRM? They've been fantastic. Obviously they're coming off a strong year last year winning the championship,and when we won the SuperPrix last year [Ed: In Evans'F3 debut] was fantastic. They've been really good. They were probably a bit disappointed when I missed the second round, but they've put that behind them and have been focusing on each round.They've given me the best possible car. How's it been this year, and last year,juggling your school commitments with coming over to race in Australia eight or so times a year? Obviously it's been very difficult. When you come over for a race meeting, you miss a good four or five days, which makes it very difficult when you get back; you're sort of lost on what they're doing and you start to fall behind a little bit. That makes life a little bit harder, but that's what I've got to do for the next few months until I probably finish school at the end of the year - it's going to be too much next year. So I'll keep working at it and hopefully it doesn't affect me too much for my exams at the end of the year.
Looking forward to 2011, obviously Mark Webber's going to be a big part of that, how did the whole tie-up with Mark come about? It all started when I met him last year at the Melbourne Grand Prix, when I raced there. It was through my team boss with Sonic, Michael Ritter, and the Formula Ford Association which kind of hooked it up for someone to go and meet Mark Webber and that was me, which was pretty cool. I was second at the Grand Prix, so Mark and Ann [Neal] kept an eye on me throughout the season and got in touch with one of my sponsors, Richard Giltrap and wanted to see a little bit more of me.So that was really cool. They wanted to do a little bit more and obviously the mentoring thing has come as part of that, and hopefully we can get some more, I wouldn't say serious, but some more involvement in making decisions with my career. We've got a couple of things to sort out. Obviously staying with him in England was a huge benefit for me,just to get a feeling of how they live, how they train and prepare themselves for the rounds. You were over there around the time of the British Grand Prix for a couple of weeks, weren't you? Yeah. I went over on theTuesday after the Valencia Grand Prix where he had his big accident and then I went to the British Grand Prix the weekend after.
It was really cool to spend some time with him and see how he prepared for that weekend, obviously it was a very good weekend for him. When you were over there, were there times where you'd think'how did I end up here? I'm hanging out with Mark Webber'? It felt like I was in a dream,to be honest.You kind of had to pinch yourself in the face to make sure it was real. Forme, being so young and having only competed in Australia, to go straight over there and spend some time with Formula 1 drivers was unreal. To be biking with him,staying at his house, Mark's such a nice guy that it felt really natural. It wasn't like all of the spotlight was on him, he was just a really, really cool guy and it was a really cool experience, and I thank him for giving me the opportunity. Do you communicate with Mark and Ann much over email or whatever much? For sure, especially over email. I text Mark throughout the race weekends,so it's really good to keep in touch with him. It's pretty cool to have Mark Webber's phone number in your contacts list as well ... Has there been much discussion at this point about what you'll do next year? Yeah, we're starting to get there. There's a high chance that I'll be doing GP3 next year with Mark and the MW Arden team, but
we're obviously going to look at other options as well. GP3 is looking like a strong option because it's got such a great pathway and it's something that I want to do as well. We're looking down that way, nothing's set in concrete at the moment, but we'll start making those sorts of decisions over the next couple of months. Either way, it's all moving very quickly. In '09 when you debuted in Formula Ford at the Grand Prix, you came over here as an unknown.You impressed last year, are doing the same this year and it's all moving nice and quickly for you. Yeah, you're right. We came over to Aussie looking to get some good experience, hoping to be running around the Top 10, ora top five would've been fantastic for my first year in Aussie Formula Ford. But I did that in my first race, I got second, which was incredible. That year last year was just huge for my career, and it really put my name out there. Flopefully people look back at that and see some of the good results that happened from that season. I think it really, really helped for my career now as well, especially working with (team-mate and eventual Champion Nick) Percat. Fie pushed pretty hard, which pushed me pretty hard and it was really good to come out of that season knowing we were on top; we were pushing ourselves and our cars to the limit. It put me on a good pathway and gave me a good mindset.
'WDTIIB'T
At the age of 76, Evans could head over to Europe with second in the 2009 Australian Formula Ford Championship, the 2009/2010 Toyota Racing series crown and the 2010 Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship to his credit. Oh,and Mark Webber in his corner. 64
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