A positive thumbs up.

Following my crash at Road America, I was hoping to end my first season in the Champ Car World Series with a bang, but perhaps not the bang that I got at the start of the final round...

Surfers' Paradise and Mexico City were both terrible for a number of reasons. Surfers' was a disaster for us and I was very ill over there too, which didn't help.

At Surfers', we struggled because we lost a lot of track time due to an issue with the engine on day one, so we were a bit behind and didn't even do first qualifying. By the time it got to the race, we still had some issues that needed to be solved, and then we were a victim of circumstance as people went off in front of us and we couldn't avoid them. It was one of those disastrous races but, like I say, you learn from it.

It was a tricky circuit to get used to and very challenging, but also one where it was enjoyable to run. We were happy with the times and with the way it worked out in the end and, even though the result wasn't there, we took enough from it that we can learn from for next year and hopefully come back and be a lot better.

In Mexico City, we were relatively fast, especially in the race, when we had a great pace, but being taken out at the start was a disaster - and meant that I had to drive the whole race with a broken thumb and shards of fibreglass sticking into my legs, which wasn't a pleasant experience.

From my point of view, we actually had a great weekend. We qualified badly, but we gambled in qualifying. We went out on all 'blacks' in first qualifying - I think there was only me and Alex Tagliani who did that as the rest thought it would rain the next day and it didn't. As a result, we had two sets of 'reds' for the second day, but it didn't quite work as we had planned and we started 13th, which wasn't fantastic, but wasn't a disaster either.

We felt we could make up a few places from there and finish well, and I was actually hoping for a wet race after I proved quick in the wet warm-up. I have always been good in the wet - maybe it is growing up racing in England, who knows - and I thought it would be a bit of a leveller.

When we came round to the start, I don't know what Mario Dominguez was doing - he either missed a gear or did a brake check – but the green flag went and, as I understand it, as soon as the green flag comes out you can race.

I went round Mario and then had Charles Zwolsman in front of me. He moved over in front of me, so I moved over and, instead of Mario backing out of it, he decided to hit me. From my point of view, I think it was stupid of him, as there was nothing I could do short of slamming on my brakes and getting hit up the rear. There really wasn't any way out, whereas Mario could have lifted a little and everyone would have been fine. That isn't really his style though, so it was one of those things.

However, it was a disaster for me in more ways than one, as the impact with the pit-wall broke my thumb. I knew I'd broken it straight away and came on the radio a lap after they had put the new nose on the car and told the team 'by the way, I've broken my thumb and have fibreglass everywhere'.

I don't know whether they believed me at the time but, when I got out of the car, they agreed I should go and get it looked at. Champ Car medical is phenomenal, but I think I've spent too much time in there this year!

They do such a great job, x-rayed it there and then and told me I would be going to see the doctor on Tuesday when I got back to Indianapolis. They sorted me out very quickly and very professionally and now I have two metal screws in my thumb. On Monday 27th, I go back in for them to take the cast off and give me a carbon cast like Justin Wilson has.

When I went into the hospital, they took one look at me and said 'you Brits need to drink more milk!', but they also said that everything would be okay and that I'll be able to drive again in a week or so. I'm very impressed with what they can do.

Despite the injury, the race in Mexico has definitely given me some confidence. Even with everything that had gone wrong, we were turning laps with Sebastien Bourdais and Justin, so we saw positives in that.

My confidence had suffered in the middle of the year, and that wasn't really down to anything performance-related. There were a lot of external issues to deal with, but it has made me stronger and I'm glad that it was a tough year in a lot of respects.

It has made me a much stronger, and much better, driver and I have to channel that now for next year. I'm sure that, if I can do that, it will be better. When you get to this level, all drivers are capable, but it is the ones who have the whole package that succeed – and we didn't have it this year.

I let other things get to me and I shouldn't have, but I have learned that lesson and, if I get them all out of the way this year, and go into next season with everything in the right place and in the right mindset, then I think we are in a good place. It has been just one year learning what I need to learn. I will learn a lot more again next year but, if we had a bad year and got all the learning out of the way, then it was worth it.

As I keep saying, it's if you make the same mistake twice that it is a bad thing. I've just made different mistakes, but we are learning and we are getting speed. In Mexico City, we were turning lap times with the leaders. That was positive.

Although I have yet to confirm my deal for next year, the pressure of perfoming well at the final round subsided because Kevin Kalkhoven came up to me and said 'don't worry about next year, I'm going to stand by you like I promised that I would'.

He is such a fantastic, supportive person. He is aware of everything that goes on, I'm pretty sure of that, and it is really nice to know that you have that to fall back on.

I knew I would end up somewhere, but it is very political in Champ Car and a lot depends on how things shake out with teams. I know that there are new teams coming in and teams shuffling about, so it is all a bit of a jigsaw at the moment.

Everyone is relieved that the year is over, and are getting excited about the new car coming out for 2007. We all ended the season at the annual awards banquet in Indy, and it was nice to be able to relax at a great event like that. Vicki O'Connor from the Atlantic series organised it all and it was in a nice hotel downtown. Everybody got dressed up nicely – so much so that you don't recognise them all - and it was a nice way to finish the season.

Between the last couple of Champ Car races, I got the chance to try my hand in a Grand-Am prototype for Robinson Racing - and it was certainly an experience!

Paul Dallenbach, who is a friend of mine, got me involved in that, and it was good. I had never driven anything like that before, but it was good to drive one of those cars and drive at Daytona. Anything you can drive is good experience and makes you a better driver, and it was the same there.

It was certainly different to my Champ Car. It is a nice car to drive and very predictable but, coming from a Champ Car, it's big, slow and heavy. You have the traction control and power steering, but you also have a lot of weight moving around. The brakes are pretty good, but not like Champ Car brakes, so you are braking earlier and have a lot of time to do everything.

It was just a lot of fun, because you can throw the car around like you can't do with your Champ Car because of all the downforce. A DP car doesn't have that and, to a certain extent, I enjoyed it.

My plan is now to try and get a seat for the Daytona 24 Hours next year, but it depends on schedules and conflicts, my thumb and a few other things. That was the idea behind the test though. Of course, it is also dependent on whether Kevin lets me do it - and wants me to do it. At the end of the day, he is my management and knows what is best for me, so he will tell me what to do and what not to do.

The prospect of doing the 24 Hours is exciting though, and it is one of the races that you want to tick off your list. You've got Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring, Bathurst, the Indy 500 – there are a number of races you want to tick off the list and that is one of them.

The 24 Hours has such a history that anyone who is anyone wants to be involved in a way and the entry list at Daytona frecently has highlighted that. It is nice to bring everybody together and race under one roof and have fun doing it. It is taken very seriously but, at the end of the day, it is fun too. It was good to meet and drive against people who normally you wouldn't drive against.

While I wait for 2007 to roll around and find out what I will be doing, I have the off-season to look forward to. I flew to California with Kevin and the Kalkhoven clan after the banquet and will be down here for a few days before we go to Aspen for Thanksgiving. Then I fly back to Indy to get my hand done.

Hopefully, we will get some testing done before the ban comes in on 15 December, but I'm hoping to be back in the UK for the Autosport Awards, and to see my mum, dad and sisters for Christmas. Then I'll be back out here, hopefully skiing again, until we can test.

Maybe by that point I will have a better idea of where I will racing next year and I can save the slippery slopes for the piste.

Until next time,

Katherine