Trulli opts for kart.

by Andy Stobart

Just a couple of days before the start to the 2004 Formula One season, Renault driver Jarno Trulli was down the road from Melbourne at Geelong Kart Club enjoying some laps with the circuit to himself in a kart bearing his own name.

With the 2004 Australian CIK Karting Championship due to start at the end of this month, Jarno was on hand to meet members from the ten-strong Trulli Kart driving contingent in the series and offer his advice.

Crash.net caught up with Jarno just after he had his first go for the day in the kart. Jarno was later to return to the track for quite a number of laps.
Crash.net
Well Jarno, we've just seen you out in your very own go-kart, how much do you enjoy actually getting out in that and having a play on the track?

Jarno Trulli
You wouldn't believe how much I enjoy it because it's an extremely good feeling. It's been a long time since I drove a go-kart - it's probably two or three years ago, I've been so busy and never had time but being here in Melbourne a couple of days earlier gave me a chance to drive it and I'm enjoying it a lot just as the old times.

Crash.net
How good does it feel having a kart with your own name on it and nuturing and developing talent out there?

Jarno Trulli
It is good, it's important and it's also nice to see a lot of younger drivers stepping into my go-kart and winning races and I'm actually extremely proud to have a lot of champions driving with my go-kart team here in Australia.

Crash.net
We're just on the brink of the start of the 2004 Formula One season, what are your feelings going into Melbourne?

Jarno Trulli
I have a good feeling. We have had a good winter testing which made us very confident for this first race. Actually we will find out where we are compared to the other teams, but we are happy about our performance.

Crash.net
Big change on engine configuration, how does that feel behind the wheel?

Jarno Trulli
The engine has changed, it's more powerful and it has to be more reliable because we only have one engine per race. It feels good because actually last year we were lacking a lot of power, this year will be much better so I'm really looking forward to the start of the season.

Crash.net
Renault of course has a very good history with a narrower angle V10, how do you think it's going to pan out through the season? Do you feel very optimistic?

Jarno Trulli
Yeah, I feel optimistic as I know they can do great things, they've always been very good. They struggled a bit with the V angle but now we've got back on a normal angle V10 and the engine is producing a lot of power, more power than last season and it is reliable. At the moment we've got everything we need, but it's never enough, we will see what we can do in the season.

Crash.net
There's always a lot of speculation from all the testing. How much do you think can be read into the test times and how much is going to be when you get on the track at Albert Park?

Jarno Trulli
Well it's very difficult to figure out where they are and where we are. We know all about us, we know that we are being competitive, but we don't know where we are going to be, but we will find out in Melbourne.

During winter testing the conditions change and it's difficult to understand and to predict.