An Interview with 994 Paul Hopkins

Congratulations on qualifying for the World of Shale Championship for the first time, are you pleased to have qualified?
Definitely, it really made my day when I got the e mail to say I had held onto a place in the top 20 and qualified. I didn't have a very good second half of the qualifying series and blew my engine in my heat at the final round and so I only scored my attendance points. I really thought with that I had lost any hope of qualifying and would have to race in the last chance race and so I was pretty gutted, so much so that we loaded the car up straight and went home so when I found out I was really, really pleased and now I'm very much looking forward to the race, to be honest I'm a little bit shocked that I even had a chance of qualifying. 

Is it safe to say you've had a good season despite not having the best of luck in more recent weeks?
Yes it is, especially when you remember that in 2010 which was my first season I raced in 10 meetings and didn't score a point which was one of the highest attendances with no scores of any driver in the formula that year. I really do race for fun though so it doesn't matter too much how I get on at the end of the day. It's always nice to have a good result but that isn't what I go racing for, it's to enjoy myself so to qualify for a race like this, especially with the budget we race on, is pretty incredible really. 

You scored most of your race points in the qualifying series at Mildenhall in April when you won the heat and finished fourth in the final. How does that meeting rate among your highlights of the season?
It's been the highlight of my career so far that night! Again to go from the whole of my first year without scoring a point to actually winning a race was a huge deal.

What was more memorable, the first race win or finishing fourth in the final?
Honestly it was the win. I think as a driver, winning is always going to be the most special thing and a first win is always a great thing but to then finish fourth in the final was pretty cool and a big bonus of what was already a brilliant night.

You raced at nine of the 10 World of Shale qualifying rounds, more than most of the final top 20 but had it not been for the introduction of attendance points in the qualifying series this year you would not have made the top 20. Do you think this change to the series was a good thing?
Yes I do because I think more should be done to reward drivers who make the effort to race when they can. It's pretty hard at the moment for a lot of drivers and so little incentives like that can make a big difference and they certainly have to me this year because doing those meetings has played a big part in me qualifying so it helps make it all worthwhile, even the bad meetings where I didn't do very well. I think it had a good effect on the qualifying rounds because all the rounds I did had good turnouts and when you get a good turnout you usually get good racing but that is often the case with the shale meetings anyway. 

Having made the grid, what goals do you have for the race itself?
I would like to finish it, that would be nice but I'm happy enough just to be in it. I've never qualified for anything like this before, again I don't think drivers like me with a limited budget like mine have an opportunity to do this very often so I'm just pleased to be in it and anything else is a bonus.

Another change this year is that only the top 20 UK drivers have qualified rather than the top 32. Had it been the previous number of qualifiers you would have qualified more comfortably. As fewer drivers have gone through from the rounds this year does it make qualifying an even more special achievement?
I don't know really, I suppose because this is the first time for me it's hard to say but it's definitely a big deal to be in the race. For a lot of the shale drivers, they see this as their World Championship because there are a lot of drivers who race on shale who don't worry too much about the World Final normally so instead this is the race they try and qualify for and have a good go at.

What kind of race do you expect it to be and who do you think the main challengers are?
I think the race will depend on the conditions. If it's wet then you are probably going to see more crashes which might help me out if I can avoid them! The guys at the front are probably going to be the main men, Chris Bradbury has been going really well this year but also Andrew Palmer and I think Daz Shaw could be one to watch as well. 

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
My dad who drives me to all the meetings I race at and my wife and children, Emily, Paige and Brooke who are a huge support of the racing and also Will and Ted who help me a hell of a lot and are a great help to the racing. 

Is there anyone you would to thank or mention?
My mum and dad, my girlfriend Gemma, Oz, Sworder Commerical Salvage, Lyndale Race Engines, AJ Thompson, TMR Supplies and Sian and Pippa for making my meetings at Mildenhall entertaining.