Sean McIntosh and the Canadian team had little time to recover from the Portuguese event at Estoril before head down under for the next leg in the A1 Grand Prix tour. Travelling in time to get acclimatised, Sean used his time to combat jetlag by visiting the city of Sydney, signing autographs and meeting children in one of Australia’s top children’s hospital and coming face to face with koala bears and kangaroos.

Sean McIntosh: "I think Estoril was another successful weekend although the end result wasn’t really what we were capable of or inline for during the race – but these things happen. We were heading for another podium place. I was really pleased with qualifying because if you look back at Brands Hatch I was 21st, then Eurospeedway and then 7th. It was an area where I really lacked experience compared to the GP2 boys. I’m starting to feel at one with the car – I’m getting to feel at home with it – it doesn’t feel like a big beast anymore – it feels like a racing car. The chemistry within the team has come a long way since Brands Hatch and it’s going to get stronger as we learn the car and how each works and start to trust what we’re all saying.

"This event should be another track where not many teams have experience so it should be a relatively level playing field. I feel like I learn circuits quite quickly – as good as anyone else – so once I get that in my head we can continue with the car development and as events pass that process is getting quicker.

"We moved up in Championship position in Portugal and we’re not so far off fourth so we need to concentrate on getting points in both races. If you watch the tapes from the other races you need to stay out of trouble to score.

"The first corner of the Eastern Creek track looks really quick – I think it’s got a mix of high and low speed corners that look as though they can keep us on our toes.

"Another top 10 qualifying slot would be good – I’d be disappointed to be out of the top 10 and then putting it all together over the full run with two points scoring finishes and I don’t think another top five is out of the question."