We were back up to full strength for this meeting, Tony’s car returning from having it’s new engine fitted in time for a shakedown on Friday afternoon in preparation for Saturdays race.
Qualifying:
The Gp2 race had their qually session first so Mike was out on circuit first, the track was slippery and not giving up any good lap times and mike was still feeling like he should be going faster but when comparing everyone’s times with last year no body was going as fast, sometimes race tracks are just like that! Best lap 58.94 saw Mike start 9th on the grid.
Well it sort of went to plan for the Gp1 race qualifying session, the circuit was already VERY slippery with oil having been dropped on several parts parts of the track in earlier qualifying sessions and Matt came on a fresh stream that had just been dropped all the way round the circuit had a big spin at the fast Paddock Hill Bend, he got going again but a lap later the instruments showed low oil pressure so he coasted in to the pits and that was pretty much game over, we looked to see if it was something we could resolve but there was nothing to do. Fortunately no expensive noises and no damage done.
Tony had a much more successful session despite the slippery track and a safety car during the session he kept his head down and when track conditions/traffic/safety cars allowed put in some constant times to end up 27th, doesn’t sound amazing but don’t forget this is still a new car on an unfamiliar and particularly difficult (this weekend) track so we were all pretty happy with this and thought there was more to come in the race.
Race:
Mike was out first in the Gp2 race. The circuit had improved since the slippery conditions of the morning but lap times were still not as quick as we would have expected in ideal conditions. Mike lost a place on the first lap but immediately got it back on lap two and by the time he came in for his stop on lap 10 was running in 8th. Again the team performed a good pitstop, no dramas just a slick unhurried yet fast stop. As usual he was faster in the second stint, his lap times dropping by a second or so a lap, coming out of the stop he was 9th and was stuck there for a few laps before starting to make a charge though the field picking off a place almost each lap to finish 5th overall and 2nd in class, a great result, as you can imagine Mike was very happy with the race.
Best lap: 59.04
Tony made a great start and took a few of places off the line, despite being re passed by a couple of cars the net gain at the end of the first lap was one place, pretty good first lap! By the pitstop on lap 10 he’d made up another place. A good stop meant that he didn’t lose any places on the pitstop coming out in the same position he pitted from. The second stint was textbook Tony made up several more places and showed how far his race craft has developed in the last few races, when he was passed by David Cornwallis’s BMW he immediately took the place back on the run into Paddock. At the flag he still thought he might have finished last and was chuffed to be told over the radio that he was actually 16th and 4th in the very competitive class C. It took three days scrubbing with a Brillo pad to get the smile off his face!
Best lap: 1:02.97
