Jul
22
After a tough weekend at Anglesey three weeks ago I was determined to make up for it at Donington Park, one of my favourite circuits and one that I always go well at.
It was great to be back on the British F3/GT package, and there was a really good atmosphere in the paddock all weekend. Despite the miserable weather, a big crowd turned out to watch all the action. Furthermore, a strong 20 car grid including reigning champion David Mayes promised some fantastic racing. This surely indicates the benefits of being part of the F3/GT meetings, so hopefully there will be more than one meeting on the package in 2010.
For me, the weekend itself couldn’t have started any worse thanks to an engine failure just 20 minutes into the first practice session on Friday. We still haven’t had any word from engine builders Minister Power as to what has gone on the engine, but we have our fingers crossed it won’t be too expensive.
Thankfully a spare engine was on hand and thanks to great work by Mat Blyth Motorsport, Rob from Tecserv and Simon Lambert for finding an oil filter in a van I was able to get a good run in the car before racing.
So onto the racing. Qualifying presented a tough challenge for me because I am running in a one car team. it would be better to work together with another car to capitalise on the huge performance advantage a tow down the straights can give you in these cars. This meant that whilst I was quickest in clean air, it was championship rival Peter Ratcliff and team mate David Mayes who took the front two positions on the grid, whilst I had to settle for third.
Race one of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon in lovely sunshine and the race itself was defiantly one of the best of the year. Having eight cars fighting for first place underlies why the R400 Superlight championship is so good. As Mayes built up a good advantage at the head of the field I had to deal with all three of my closest championship rivals trying as hard as possible to find a way past me. Luckily, their squabbles meant I was able to break the tow and hunt down Mayes, eventually passing him into Goddards to take the win. It was a great feeling to finally finish in front of him after spending the last three rounds of 2008 coming second best to David.
Race two on Sunday provided challenging conditions, with heavy rain falling minutes before we went out to race. A late tyre change by us proved a great move as, despite losing the lead on the first bend to David, I was back in the lead again by the start of lap two from where I sped off into the distance, winning the race by over 32 seconds.
A really great weekend more than made up for the disappointment at Anglesey and made the hard work of changing engines on Friday very worthwhile. The fantastic results mean I am now 13 points clear at the head of the driver’s championship with six races left to run. There is a long two month wait until I’m next out, but it should be worth the wait as the next round of the championship is at the awesome Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Many people consider this the best circuit in the world, so I’m really looking forward to the challenge.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Dan
