Our first competitive outing of the season on the 300 circuit had the makings of a great race but from the beginning of qualifying it became aparent that things were not going to go completely to plan for everyone.
Qualifying:
Mike had a good qualifying session, having not managed to get to any pre season testing this was his first time behind the wheel of the Red C since last year. He settled in quickly and reported back that the revisions to the car had improved the handling and that the setup was good setting his fastest qualifying time on lap 10of 2,24.68 to place him 18th on the 45 car grid.
Tony managed 9 laps before the increasingly smokey Orange B caught the attention of the marshals and they black flagged the car for a mechanical issue. While the pre season test days had been hugely beneficial for TC they had clearly taken a toll on the tired engine in the Orange B, we did know that it was on borrowed time and a rebuild was planned but we didn’t realise quite how much time we had already borrowed! Tony had however managed to achieve one of his first race goals of not being last on the grid qualifying 40th with five cars behind him, best lap 2,42.91
Matt didn’t have a very long or successful qualifying session, after just 3 laps he too was shown a black and orange flag signifying a mechanical issue so he returned to the paddock and discovered that Bluebell was slightly over full of fuel and a small crack in the top of the filler neck was allowing fuel past the seal and the marshalls had spotted the fuel leaking from the back of the car round the filler. It was an easy fix but by the time it was sorted it was too late to get back out on circuit. Best lap 2.30.10 placing him 31st on the grid.
Race:
Due to the huge 45 car grid this was a rolling start so as the cars came round from the formation lap instead of forming up on the grid they carry on in grid formation until the red lights go out at which point you are racing! Mike made a good start and was one of the first into the pits, coming in a lap earlier than the team were expecting on lap 3 just 18 seconds after the pit window opened, a text book stop .got Mike back on track just as the safety car was coming out! Unfortunatley on the same lap Tony was having the same problem as in qually and retired the car due to the smoking engine. Matt had got a decent start and had made up a couple of places but lost some ground when he slipped on oil and almost lost the back end in turn 1, straight after this the yellow flags were out round the circuit so he couldn’t re take the places. With two cars in the pits and the safety car deployed due to the huge oil spill at turn 1 the team decided that they weren’t busy enough and decided to pit Matt earlier than planned. The stop went well but then the car was held at the end of the pitlane while the safety car and the crocodile of following cars came round. The next 3 laps were spent behind the safety car which came in on lap 7 only to be sent out again on lap 9! It was only out for 1 lap but with having spent around 40% of the race behind the safety car and only 8 or 9 minutes left in the race it was a sprint to the flag. All in all not a vintage race and certainly not the start to the season we were hoping for.
Mike: 10th overall, 3rd in class, best lap 2.28.12
Matt: 18th overall, 4th in class, best lap 22,25.64
Tony: DNF, best lap 2,46.08
