Following his heroic drive at the inaugural Emirates V-Prix two weeks ago, the Turkish V-Prix last weekend was a fairly anonymous affair for Phoenix driver Thierry Xylander. The Belgian spoke to FVTV about his season so far, as well as his hopes for the business end of the season. “Coming into this year, I knew I had to perform to a level that I had not achieved since my VWRS days. The beginning of the season was as bad as it could have been with my pre-season injury, but once I got back in the car I felt different, I felt a new level of understanding with this car – the PX4. The races in Australia and Spain were some that I was very proud of, but of course the Saturday in Germany was the highlight of my career so far. That feeling, to have set the lap to beat all these great drivers in the tricky conditions, is something hard to describe. My greatest satisfaction in life is to perfect things, and that lap was so close to perfection! Of course, the day after was not so good, we had some more bad luck and things that went against us, but I am so proud to be able to say that the first ever pole position for the Phoenix team was my lap. So, to the next race in Dubai, you think “how do we follow that weekend?”. Well, we pick the perfect strategy and execute it with almost perfection, but by one or two laps. To miss the podium by such a margin was terrible, but to be there for the whole race and to fight with those top drivers, ah, it feels like you have really made your name in Formula Virtual, you know? Turkey we had the accident with Enrique which took our chance away, but to be honest we made the wrong decision with the medium tyres so I don’t think the accident changed the outcome too much. So now we look ahead to my home race in Spa and the final six races. As a team, we did not expect to be in the fight we are in, but now we are here we know that now is the time to push on. We have to go to every one of the last six races as if everything is on the line. Maximum attack mode. Belgium is always special for me naturally but this year I really hope to get something for my fans, after just missing points my first year in FV and then retiring from the race in 2020. Not only this, but my time at Phoenix is coming to an end and I want to give my thanks to this team by giving them my absolute best for the end of this season.”
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