Conor Daly is returning to Europe this week to take on the challenging Circuit de Catalunya over the weekend, as he renews his GP3 Series program with Carlin Motorsport. The Barcelona track is not all new to him, as the second-generation racer completed completed three days of testing there last month, between his Indy Lights weekends at Barber Motorsports Park and Long Beach. However, this time he will have the benefit of a fellow North American teammate – former Formula BMW America champ, Canada's Daniel Morad.
“I have really enjoyed learning the new circuits. Make no mistake about it, I found Turkey to be very challenging,” said Daly, who added that he is finding the mastering of the 285hp, 2.0-liter Renault turbo-powered GP3 cars to be an interesting challenge, too. “Tire management is a lot more complex than I anticipated, as is the driving style needed, he said. "I really didn't think it would take this long to understand it fully. The team at Carlin has been fantastic.
“I'm also really excited to have a new teammate in Daniel (Morad). He ran well really well in GP3 last season, taking a win at Silverstone. I am very excited to be working with Daniel.”
Now living in the North London area in England, Daly has been pulling out all the stops to prepare for rounds three and four. This past week he made extensive use of the state-of-the-art Carlin simulator in addition to taking part in a total fitness evaluation with Pro Performance. The extensive evaluation is part of a season-long regiment with programs built specifically for each driver at each event.
“The off-track testing and training has been great,” enthused the 19-year-old Daly.
Following the Barcelona weekend Daly will return to the U.S. to take part in several Indy 500-related events, although the Firestone Indy Lights point leader will not run in the Firestone Freedom 100 on May 27, due to the restrictions of his commitments and travel schedule.