Hugh Barter says “I don’t really feel any pressure” in the French F4 title battle with Alessandro Giusti ahead of the championship decider at Paul Ricard.
The Australian trails Giusti by 32 points ahead of the final round in a season where Barter has been very competitive, taking 10 wins so far.
Barter explained to InsideF2 that he doesn’t feel any extra pressure in the championship battle and believes he can still push Giusti for the title: “So going into this weekend I don’t really feel any pressure honestly.
“I’m second, 32 points back and it’s more of a matter of putting pressure on Alessandro and see if he makes a mistake and obviously I can still take it to him.
“It’s going to be difficult because he has to finish third in every single race and for me to score seven more points than him in Race 2.
“So it’s tight but he has quite a fair margin so all he as to do is just manage that.”
Barter couldn’t score points at Spa and Valencia earlier this season due to the 17-year-old already having track time there in the Spanish F4 championship.
That has seriously hindered his title challenge, the Australian would have a comfortable championship lead if he was able to score points at those two rounds.
Barter said he feels hard done by as he wasn’t able to score points at Spa and Valencia but understands it’s part of his motorsport journey: “I do feel like it was a bit unfair having not scored points in Spa and Valencia because I think if I did score points there it would be 120 points lead.
“It is what it is but we all knew that coming into this championship that was going to be the case.
“But in the end I think I deserve this just as much as anyone else does and it’s part of motorsport and part of this journey so it is what it is.
The Australian scored a podium at Paul Ricard last season and explained that carrying minimum speed is vital to a good lap time.
Barter also said that Paul Ricard’s plentiful runoff makes driving on the 15-turn circuit slightly less taxing: “At Paul Ricard, I think the lap time here is just to not overpush and just be very clean with your driving and making sure that you’re carrying good minimum (speed) everywhere.
“The runoff makes like a bit easier and a bit less stressful you don’t have to worry about hitting a wall or going into gravel and getting stuck.
“It’s just more about exploring new ways, trying to find how to go faster and then seeing how that goes.”
