Proving a point.

It's been a week now since my Champ Car debut, and I think the Long Beach result has just about sunk in.

For sure, the part where I made a mistake has sunk in, but we'll take eighth for our first race. We had a bad qualifying the day before, so we'll take that result and the points, and we'll work on things and move on to the next one.

I love Long Beach, but I am glad to have got it out of the way. Of course, I won there last year, and the atmosphere, the sunshine, everything about it is just great, so I like going back there. I like the track although, obviously, it's different to drive in a Champ Car. I think it is going to be like that this year because, even though I know some of the tracks, they're going to be different in the Champ Car. Long Beach is still fun to drive but, when you're coming out of the hairpin and put your foot down and have 750bhp and a lot of wheelspin and there's no rubber on the track, you think it's definitely different!

The whole weekend feels different going back as a Champ Car driver. You've got a lot more things to do, and a lot more demands on your time - and there was a lot more
pressure on me last weekend. There was a lot of added media attention, and I think, to some degree, it was a distraction, but you just have to focus harder on being focused. It was an experimental weekend in that respect, as we didn't know exactly what was going to happen, and how heavy the attention was going to be, but, now that we do, we can develop strategies to move forward.

Practice was really all about getting used to everything and, although practice and first qualifying didn't really go as planned, again, looking back, perhaps they weren't so bad. We were just learning and getting to grips with the set-up of the car, and Oriol and Jimmy were trying to help as much as they could with that because they had driven there before and have driven Champ Cars a lot more than I have. We just wanted to get through the first qualifying and practice sessions as it was going to be faster in second qualifying.

Basically, we drove around, trying to improve the car, staying out of the wall and we thought that we had a good shot at the top ten in second qualifying, but things didn't really go our way. I made a mistake on new tyres - running with the two types, the reds and the blacks, was a learning experience - but, at least, we know we can come back next time and it will be better.

Because of qualifying, lining up on the grid was disappointing. I wanted to be further up the grid - I don't think I've ever been that far back, and it was a bit humiliating! When you're on the last few rows, it's not really where you want to be, so I was disappointed at that. It was great going round on the back of the truck, and on the parade lap, when everyone's waving and cheering - that really gives you a boost - but I thought that we really had a lot of work to do.

The team did a fantastic job with the strategy and that got us back into the race, and we were eighth fastest, so we probably finished where we should have. It was a long race, kind of what I expected but, obviously, there were things that I didn't expect too. I believe that I cost myself sixth place and a shot at leading the race, but most of the other rookies made more mistakes than I did, so we'll take that and move on. I'm glad that I've got the first one out of the way because it was weighing on my mind, and I'm really looking forward to Houston now.

It was disappointing to be the only PKV driver to make it to the finish, and I really felt for Jimmy and Oriol. Of course, I went through the first corner and saw that the others hade gone off, and my first thought was that it could mean more points for me. It sounds selfish, but it's completely honest. Obviously, you want to win by overtaking those guys and being quicker than them, but you'll still take the points any which way you can. If they're silly enough to throw it away, we'll take it. Unfortunately, the retirements weren't Oriol or Jimmy's fault, so I felt really bad for them.

I hope Jimmy does more this year, as it was great to have him there, and great to have him racing. Both he and Oriol have been such a great help to me, developing me and bringing me along. I don't think that you'll find that in many team-mates, as racing drivers are selfish and generally do the bare minimum for anyone else. Would I do what they have done for someone else? Honestly, I don't think I would.

The first corner wasn't so bad for me, although, if I had qualified higher up, who knows. At Long Beach, you come through a hairpin before going down the start-finish straight, so the field is always pretty strung out before it gets to the first corner. I could see the yellow flags and, at the back, we were just cruising and taking it easy by the time we got there. As a team, we half-expected that something might happen and, when it's a long race like that, you really don't want to take yourself out on the first bend. I picked my way through, then there was a yellow, so we came in for fuel - we made sure that, every time we could, we topped up - and managed to drag the people behind in with us, so we didn't lose track position. After that, we managed to pick a couple off, but did most of it under pit-stops really.

Like I said, I reckon we could have finished sixth, but I spun mid-race. I just made a mistake. I was on 40-lap old tyres, so they were pretty old, and I obviously wasn't being careful enough on them. I had a lot of oversteer coming around that particular corner and where, normally, you'd give it a handful of opposite lock and it'd be fine, this time it snapped out on me and I was fully on the lock-stops and couldn't rescue it. Maybe it was a lack of concentration, but I think it was really just a genuine mistake, albeit one that I won't make again.

I was sat there and I was kicking myself so hard! It was soul-destroying, I was desperate! Obviously, I had spun it, and I was fine with that. I'd even kept the engine running in the spin, but then I stalled it, so I was doubly kicking myself while I was waiting for the rescue team to get to me! However, I know that I'm going to make these mistakes. It's if I make them again that I'm going to be stupid. If I only make them once and learn from them, then it's a good thing.

Everybody's been fantastic since the race. The fans were fantastic and I'm so grateful for their support. That's what makes it fun, what makes it a great weekend. A street circuit and the fans at a street circuit make it a completely different atmosphere. Obviously, I haven't talked to all the other drivers, but we had a couple of days of testing in Portland after Long Beach and everyone's been really supportive. They respect what I am trying to do and, more importantly, they respect the fact that I'm just another race car driver and I'm just trying to do my very best.

I think that the team were also happy to get the race under their belt, because there was just as much pressure on them as there was on me. They have been working so hard towards it, and have had a lot of extra work because of my lack of experience and needing to bring me on. It's not like they have got an experienced driver and can plonk him in the car, get fantastic feedback and get to be up the front straight away - they've had to work really hard with me and I think it was a relief for them to get this one out of the way as well. I showed promise, I showed that I can race and I got out of the car and wasn't tired at all - I could have done another race. I've worked really hard on all that, and I think that it showed that we have potential.

Testing showed that too - although I had my first crash in a Champ Car at Portland. It was disappointing in that we were P8 on the first day and then had some gearbox problems, and then we were P7 on the second day and I went and caught the tyre barrier. I didn't get a chance to run in 'happy hour', when everyone puts new tyres on and generally goes quicker. However, overall, it was promising. Every time we go out, I get closer to Oriol, closer to the front of the pack, and I learn. That's all we can wish for.

I know some people say that I have a luxury in being able to go out there and have a 'learning year', but I don't care. That's what all the other rookies are doing as well, I'm just being honest about it. Yes, I want to win, as much as anybody else on the grid, but I'm being realistic and want to get what I can out of it. I want to maximise what I can this year, and that means learning as much as I possibly can. Of course, it also means results, but I'll be happy going in to 2007 having learned all I need to learn and developed as a driver.

We tried some really funky stuff at Portland, some bizarre set-ups. Oriol did the same, as he had Jimmy's car from Long Beach as well as his own. They each had their own direction to go in, and we were coming from another direction, so we learned a lot, some really beneficial things which, moving forward, will really help us. Whether they'll help us for Houston or not, I doubt, because Portland is a 'proper' track, not a street course, but I think, when we go back to Portland, we'll be in really good shape.

The PKV team is doing an awesome job now. Of course, we're still a relatively new team but, as long as the engineers and everyone keep working as hard as they have been, I don't see any reason why, by the end of the year, we wont be on top of things.

I've got some time off this week, although I don't know what normal people call time off, as I'm still busy 24-7. I suppose, as a race car driver, you don't get any real time off as I'm still going to be in the gym twice a day, and I'm still going to be down at the workshop, learning all I can.

I suppose, for me, time off means not travelling for a while. I'm in Indy now for seven or eight days, then we go to Milwaukee for a rookie test, where Kevin will pick Jimmy and me up to go to Italy - where we'll have some fun on powerboats for a while! The life of a racing driver, eh?

After that, I think I'll have a quick stop back in England, where I'll get to see my mum, my sister and my boyfriend. Then I'll be back in Indy for a few more days, getting acclimatised again and figuring out plans for what we're going to do when we get to Houston.

I'll speak to you again then.

Katherine