Friday, 5 July, EVIAN (France): Maverick F1 Racing’s Erik Stark is in a bullish frame of mind ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix of France which he won last year. “This time last year Evian was my first race with Abu Dhabi and I started their winning streak. This year it is my intention to end it.”

Stark comes to Evian after a top ten finish in Portugal, despite crashing in qualifying and hindered by technical issue in the race.  “My boat went to DAC immediately after Portugal where it was prepped to replicate the boat I was driving [for Abu Dhabi] last year and I am confident I can do well in it here. It will be interesting to see if it handles as well!”

“Qualifying as always is one of the most important sessions of the weekend and here it can be very difficult because of the conditions, especially from the wake of the many pleasure boats and ferries which you don’t always see in time. When you do it can be too late and you just fly.”