Round 2 was certainly a tricky weekend for the entire team, but one we have learnt a lot from, and although luck wasn't on our side, we made quite a few big steps forward particularly with the wet weather performance.
With the weather forecast being massively mixed throughout the weekend, Silverstone was always going to mix the order up and produce some unexpected results.
On Friday, a boat would have been more appropriate for the conditions, as although we initially tried to run the 4mm tread tyres in the first practice session, it became very obvious that the full wet tyres were the only tyres that were going to see what little light of day that we had as the rain never let up.
Having said that, Friday did prove to be a very useful day, and a day that we could experiment and try new things with the car, especially with rain forecast for race day.
Having had 2 sessions splashing around, we decided that enough was enough and with the car handling really well in the wet, we spent the last session relaxing on the pit wall whilst watching our competitors circulate.
Saturday arrived, and due to the Fun Cup 4 hour race in the afternoon, Qualifying was our only session of the day, and after all of the wet running we had on Friday, typically the circuit was bone dry!
The start of the session could well have been mistaken for a race by on lookers, as the AB drivers Oliver Allwood & Brian Trott, as well as Steve Foden from MCR and myself found ourselves on the same piece of tarmac, all jostling for position as we all tried to gain an advantage from the extremely powerful tow. However, as we spent most of the first laps battling, all of us were showing as being well down the order and out of the top 10.
With us all tripping over each other, I decided to hold back to try and get a clean lap in, and as soon as I did, I jumped straight to Pole position, and was able to consistently lap around the pole position pace even without a tow in the closing stages of qualifying, and despite Fraser Fenwick briefly taking Pole back, the team and I managed to secure consecutive pole positions and a new qualifying lap record to go with it!
Sunday was back to wet conditions, with a fine mist of rain coating the circuit, for race 1, with some dry patches appearing on circuit, the race was going to be a game of patience as the circuit dried out, with the chances of mistakes high.
Race 1 got underway well, leading into turn 1, but as is always the way with Silverstone, that didn't last long with it being impossible to break the tow, there was no rush from my side to be the lead car, keeping the car under control and making sure I got good clean exits, especially out of Becketts and Luffield.
The battle for the lead very quickly became a 3 horse race between, Fenwick, Trott and myself, occasionally allowing Fisher and Allwood to catch as we fought for position. But as the final lap came round, going down the Wellington straight, Fenwick was in the lead defending well with a back marker on the inside, I was forced to take the long route, knowing that it wasn't really an overtaking opportunity on the outside, when unfortunately Trott got slightly over ambitious with his braking point and locked up, making contact with the rear of my car and sending me into a full 360 spin. Thankfully I was still able to re-fire up the car and bring it home 7th but with a taste of what might have been. I was hoping that would be the only bad luck I had for the day, and finishing 7th was still a strong if unspectacular result.
Little did I know at the time that 7th would be my best result of the weekend, as the weather got significantly worse for Race 2, the conditions were not ideal for starting further down the order in the pack.
A good start and opening few corners saw me battling for 5th place with Fisher around Luffield, and with more grip around the outside, I took the outside line to pull level mid way through the corner, but it became very clear very quickly that I was going to be crowded off the circuit on the exit of the corner. As I was pushed onto the kerb and green concrete on the exit of Luffield I had to come out of the power to stop the rear wheels spinning and prevent me from going sideways, but unfortunately as I did this the car behind decided try and join me in my car, sending me sideways into the pack getting hit multiple times before eventually recovering at the back of the pack with an extremely damaged car.
Despite the damage, I still managed to recover to 17th on road which became 15th due to yellow flag disqualifications, and somehow fastest lap of the race!
Race 3 was perhaps the most unfortunate race of the weekend though, having seen the forecast and the conditions the supercup drivers were having to endure throughout their race, we decided to put the full wet tyres on, which was a gamble, thinking the circuit would still be too wet at the start of the race for the 4mm tyres.
However, due to a lengthy delay after the Formula Ford race, we got out on track to a damp circuit, very similar conditions to race 1, which meant the tyres we chose were never going to work. The race itself from my point of view didn't really have much action at all and was a fairly lonely race, powerless to stopping some cars coming through, I eventually finished 18th, lapping some 2 seconds per lap off the pace of the leaders.
Reflecting on the weekend, it wasn't my finest, and certainly wasn't how any of us thought the weekend would go. But on the positive side, we once again showed that we have the speed and the team continue to do an incredible job, giving me a car that (when facing the right way) is capable of being the fastest car on track. We will take this weekend on the chin, and although it wasn't what we wanted, we learnt more this weekend than we did at Croft.
I would also like to say well done to Steve Foden, as I found out last time at Croft, the first win is always very special and to go from 19th to win is an incredible achievement in such a competitive championship.
Thank you as always to Tucker Motorsport, Airbourne Graphics & Signs, EPTA Projects and PerformanceOne Clothing for their support.
Next up is Anglesey on 10th / 11th of July.
Peace Out
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