35th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races

Panasonic Toyota Formula 1 driver Timo Glock, fresh from a second-place finish at the Grand Prix of Hungary, is at the 35 Rolex Monterey Historic Races Presented by Toyota participating in the Toyota Race of Legends as well as doing demonstration laps in the Toyota Eagle GTP Mk III.

Congratulations on the second-place finish at the Grand Prix of Hungary. How did that feel?
Good. It was a mega weekend. I knew before we went to Budapest that it was a chance for us because the package is right for Budapest and the car was right for Budapest. I saw that there was something possible, and after the first couple of laps of free practice, I had a good feeling and I told them we have to keep the car in that window. When it behaves like this throughout the whole weekend, we have a good chance at points. At the end we were on the podium and it was just mega.

Is this a sign of things to come for the Panasonic Toyota F1 team?
It's a sign from my side that when the car is ready for it, I can do it. The team showed the performance and they showed the speed. Toyota is strong, we just need to bring everything together, and we can be up there easy. But it's not easy against Ferrari and McLaren. They have so much experience. I don't know how many years they have in Formula 1; Toyota is now in its seventh or eighth year in Formula 1 and we have to be careful about these stories that when you are one time on the podium, you will be up there every time. You have to bring it consistently, and that's not easy. We have to fight and keep up what we've done the last couple of months and improve from race to race.

Do you think you have a competitive car this year?
It starts to get more and more competitive. At the beginning of the year the car was not ready for me, my driving style didn't work for the car. But we improve from race to race and that's important.

Next up is Valencia, a new track for everyone. How do your prospects look for that race?
I think it will not be such a big difference, because these 20 drivers know exactly what they're doing. After five laps of the track they are quick. It will not be a big difference I think. But it will be good fun on the street track.

You're familiar with racing in America from your days in Champ Car. Do you think F1 is destined to come back?
Here [Laguna Seca] with an F1 car would be just great, and maybe a couple of other tracks. When I raced here in America, Champ Car was really good fun and I enjoyed it. The fans are great, they enjoy watching racing.

What was driving the Toyota Eagle GTP Mk III like?
Good fun. It's not easy to drive with the turbo, but good fun. You can feel that the car was just nearly perfectly set up. I enjoyed it a lot.

Was the turbo power hard to get used to?
You have to be quite careful with the throttle, get a feeling for it. But that worked out quite quickly without any problems.

You had a chance to sample Toyota's GT-One Le Mans car recently, and now the Eagle GTP. Are there more sports cars in your future?
We'll see. I had a good experience with the last two weeks with the GT-One, and now here again. It's really good fun.