Donington, as always, had it all...
Friday testing was perhaps the most relaxing Friday the team has ever had on my car. Having previously done a test day the week before, it was more of a case of just getting my eye in, trying a few minor adjustments to the car, and seeing where we stacked up with the rest of the field. But having seen no times on Friday that caught the attention, the mood was so confident we decided to park the car midway through the 3rd session and prepare for Qualifying on Saturday.
The weather threatened to make Qualifying even more interesting than normal with a constant but light rain shower an hour before the session, but by the time we hit the circuit, it was bone dry!
Within 2 laps the pace was already level with the best times I had seen on Friday, but little did I know that it was Zack Oates that had put in a great lap to be pole in the early stages of qualifying.
However, it didn't take long to rediscover my qualifying form, on lap 7 I put in a lap to go 0.2 clear, only to beat that time again on the final lap of Qualifying, setting a 1.55.295, to get pole by 0.338.
The start to race 1 was perhaps one of the most bizarre starts I've had, sharing the front row with Zack, and expecting a challenge up to turn 1 that never came, as Zack stayed stationary on the grid as the lights went out.
Having kept the lead down to Redgate corner, the rest of the opening lap was spent defending from Fenwick in 2nd and Allwood in 3rd, until the Melbourne Loop where it became very obvious what Fenwicks instructions were for the weekend, using my car as his brake at the apex before continually trying to hit me onto the grass going up towards Goddards, thankfully the grass was dry enough and I somehow managed to retake the lead from Allwood into Goddards.
From there the action didn't stop as going down the back straight towards the chicane, Allwood pulled alongside and took the lead, a place that he held for the majority of the race as I just sat behind biding my time whilst also holding off Seb Fisher for in 3rd.
As the 3 of us pulled away from the rest of the field, it became obvious that no one would be able to break the tow, and going into what we all thought was the last lap of the race, I set myself up to be close enough at the Melbourne loop to make the move, sliding up the inside taking the lead, only to come round and find that there was no chequered flag waiting for me but another fateful lap, as I defended into Redgate, holding a tight line I felt the dreaded contact from Allwood that sent me out of the race for the lead and put me in 10th, whilst he continued to 3rd place, as result he would keep.
Due to the way the grids work, the contact didn't just penalise me in terms of points, but also in terms of my grid position, having lost 18 points from race 1, and then starting 9th due to Allwood's 10 place grid penalty, things weren't looking promising going into race 2.
However, it's amazing what set backs do to really fire me up. Off the start I immediately set my eyes forward going from 9th to 3rd in one lap, and into the lead of the race by the end of lap 2, where once again my Donington curse struck.
Having started to just pull out a bit of a gap between myself and Seb Fisher in 2nd, we got down to the chicane to find someone at the back of the field had decided to turn the chicane into a stage of the Rally GB, with gravel spread all over the circuit, and arriving 1st on the scene with no slippery surface flags, I went in at my normal speed to find that I was skating nearly off the circuit, allowing Fisher and Allwood through. The safety car boards and flags soon followed due to a separate incident, neutralising the race.
When racing resumed Allwood went on the offensive trying to take the lead, only to lose momentum into the chicane and allow me through into 2nd, but the next time round I was the one going defensive into the chicane, holding Allwood at bay but Callum Greatrex managed to carry momentum and take 2nd place, as we went up to Goddards I looked to the outside of Callum, only to concede track position to Allwood, and then, despite there being no last lap board, the chequered flag was thrown resulting in a 4th place finish.
Race 3 pretty much summed up the entire weekend, with Allwood and I hitting the front of the field from the get go, but this time behind were 2 of Allwood's team mates, and as I made a move for the lead, I immediately had the AB cars bump drafting their way past me, dropping me to 3rd place, with Allwood leading from Fenwick in 2nd.
Fenwick then proceeded to back me up to allow Allwood to escape to an easy win, brake testing me several times at the apex of Goddards, Redgate and McLeans, with us going down to the Old hairpin side by side, I made a mistake and lost all momentum, dropping down to 5th, and being 6.5 seconds off the lead of the race.
It didn't take long to get back to 3rd, and then with a series of laps in clean air, with no tow, I set about putting in the fastest laps of the race over and over again, bringing the gap from 6.5 seconds down to 1 second as we crossed the finish line, proving that if things had fallen a little kinder for us, we had the underlying pace to be winning.
After a trying weekend but not unsurprising weekend at Donington, I head to Brands Hatch in the lead of the championship, and with the confidence of knowing that although we may not have the most powerful car, as the scrutineers checks proved, the Tucker Motorsport team are still finding ways to set up the car to allow me to extract the maximum at every weekend.
I would like to say a massive congratulations to Seb Fisher for his 2 brilliant wins, having raced with Seb for many years now, I know that these kind of results have been on the cards for a long time!
Finally I would like to say a big thank you to Airbourne Graphics and Signs, PerformanceOne Clothing and EPTA Projects who visited on Sunday to show their support!
All the focus now turns to Brands Hatch and the Formula Ford Festival for the finale of the season, and one things for certain, this year has already far exceeded any expectations!
See you then
Jack
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