What a weekend!!!
As expected, the race weekend at Cadwell managed to provide many undulations throughout the race weekend, typifying the nature of the circuit.
The weekend began with 2 massively interrupted practice sessions, with Caterhams managing to find themselves on every part of the circuit apart from the racing line, with most seeming to prefer the scenery than the track itself. Having never been around Cadwell before, the preparation was less than ideal.
The few laps that were managed were around 3 seconds a lap away from the sharp end of the grid, with the main aim to just complete laps and learn what proved to be the toughest track I have visited to date.
After completing what can only be described as a sedate Friday (see the video above for evidence) Saturday morning came, with more misfortune.
The weather overnight had left the circuit damp and incredibly slippery, especially under the forrest section, with a couple find the slippery conditions all too much, causing the session to be red flagged and one car left written off.
This left me having only completed a handful on laps before qualifying around the hardest circuit on the racing calendar and with a time of 1:47.7 being my best from practice, things were pretty bleak.
However, qualifying ended up being a bit of a shock, after spending most of the session in the high 1:46's and seemingly off the pace, the final lap of qualifying saw me jump to 8th in the group after finding 1 second! I was 11th fastest overall but due to the grid formats I started the Race 1 on the 8th row of the grid in 15th.
Knowing I was capable of being quicker than at least 4 of the cars in front of me, I went into the race confident but extremely nervous, with the 1st corner being so narrow and daunting, with a grid full of mx-5's heading into turn 1 at the same time, things were likely to end in tears. Fortunately for me, they were not my tears, as a 1st corner incident caused a retirement and chaos behind, after a quick getaway I managed to place myself on the outside of turn 1 and avoid the carnage. I finished a crash ridden race in a solid if unspectacular 11th place on my 1st ever race at Cadwell.
Race 2 was always going to be tricky, with several championship contenders behind me due to the incidents in race 1, it was inevitable that I wouldn't be able to maintain my position. After losing 2 places to much quicker cars behind, I managed to pull off a surprise move down the back straight to climb back to 12th where I would start the 3rd and final race of the weekend.
Someone was clearly looking down on me for the final race of the weekend, luck was well and truly on my side! After a difficult start to the weekend and consistently running on the slower Avon tyres, Race 3 was expected to be a battle to try and get inside the top 10 as a best case scenario. The 1st 2 corners changed that target completely.
Through the 1st corner, my team mate Joe Wiggins (who had been punching above his weight all day) was forced off the track, but it did allow him to miss the carnage that followed at turn 2! With a car going backwards across the grass and completely across turn 2, 6 other cars had to take to the grass in avoiding action, I was fortunately not one of them!
From starting 12th on the grid I ran 95% of the race in a very lonely 5th place, just keeping the leaders in sight while somehow matching their times! Sam Smith eventually caught and passed me for 5th only to be found to have ventured off the circuit 1 too many times and handed a 5 second penalty, giving my my best finish in an A race ever!
After being greeted by a delighted Tucker Motorsport team, with them showing huge amounts of support throughout what was supposed to be the most difficult weekend of the year, it was time to pack the car away and restock ready for Anglesey, the 1st round of the championship where we see how everyone fairs on the Avon tyres!
Must say a massive thank you to Ice Driver, High Row Marketing and EPTA projects for their support throughout the weekend, and a special thank you to Peter Felix for not only coming to support but providing me with so much guidance on a circuit he has been extremely successful on in the past!
See you at Anglesey
Jack