Result: 10th overall, 2nd in class
Having qualified lower down the grid than we’d perhaps have hoped we had it all to do in the race. Previously Bluebell has always got off the line really well but the new gearbox has a much higher first gear (imagine trying to pull away as fast as you can in second gear!) which meant that without any opportunity to practice a race start we didn’t know how it was going to go off the line, all we knew was that the clutch needed to be slipped a lot and you could smell it in the car!
As it turned out Matt still made a great start and passed four cars in the first lap. Matt settled into a good stint and had a cracking battle with the number 30 BMW of Thomas Pead and by the pitstop had got the car up to around 17th overall with some cars ahead still to pit. The stop wasn’t fantastically fast (something to work on) but we didn’t lose any race places. Marky was out and up to pace straight away. The car was running really well the only problem being a flat spotted tyre that caused a vibration over about 100mph but more importantly meant that the front wheel was more inclined to lock up under heavy braking where the flat point on the tyre was. Mark was aware and manages to drive round the problem without losing lap time. Mark continued to make up places and was hunting down the number 34 Alfa GTV who understandably really didn’t want him to pass as they were trying to hold on for 3rd place in the class however Mark kept up the pressure and on lap 11 got by, once past he opened the gap up by a second a lap until the flag on lap 16.
Best lap 2.28.15
