Not winning Vento title a low, but not the end, says Desouza
Keith Desouza says not winning the Volkswagen Vento Cup title is a low, but adds that it is not dampening his mind, as he believes he had the speed and potential to win it, had everything gone to the plan.
Photo by: Volkswagen Motorsport
Despite looking promising to take the title early on in the season, Desouza finished third in the Indian touring one-make championship, in the end.
The Goa-based driver, though, is not losing heart and has full confidence in himself that he has what it takes to win a series.
"Not winning the championship [Vento Cup] was a low, but the kind of issues I had is part of motorsport," said Desouza to Motorsport.com.
"The lows don't really affect me because I know I had good pace and with a few corrections I could have won the championship.
"[Even] in the Indian Junior Touring Car series, I had bad luck in 2015 and finished sixth in the season, but it helped me prepare well and win the championship this year," he added.
"Overall, racing in the Vento Cup was certainly a high [for me] and being competitive with the likes of Ishaan [Dodhiwala] and Karminder [Singh] with the experience they have in these cars, was good."
Late season issues limited chances
After the first two rounds, Desouza was six points behind series runners-up Singh and 28 behind winner Dodhiwala.
By the end of the season, the Goan finished third with 388 points, 96 behind Singh and subsequently 128 behind Dodhiwala.
After a win and two podiums along with several top five finishes in the first two rounds, Desouza did not manage any podiums in the last two which hampered his title chances.
"Luck took a turn from Round 3 onward starting with the launch control issue in Race 1, to getting taken out in Race 2 and the tyre issue in the last race," he started.
"Round 4 turned out to be bad with the turbo issues right from practice. The only positive to take back was the 1m27.0s lap I clocked that while testing the new turbo.
"Though it also failed in the first lap of qualifying. So, after three turbos and a new car I did not have much faith to push the car to its limit in the last race , specially after noticing [Niranjan] Todkari's turbo fail ahead of me."
Still working on international budget
Desouza told Motorsport.com earlier about his intentions to compete in the German one-make series, the Audi TT Cup.
Talking about the latest, he said: "[I am] still working towards the TT Cup. Budgets are high, so I have also listed out a few options of international racing.
"I would like to explore newer tracks and compare and learn from the European drivers," he added, revealing that he is also looking at Renault Clio Cup.
When asked if he would return to compete with Volkswagen India in the new Ameo Cup, Desouza said although he is open to come back, but it will depend on the grid, budget and his future plan.
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