Aug
26
Dan Denis: G50 Cup catch-up
It has yet again been a while since I posted a blog, and a lot has happened since my Oulton Park blog in June. Firstly, I have had two more race weekends at Snetterton & Silverstone – rounds 6 & 7 of the Ginetta G50 Cup.
Oulton Park was my first meeting back after my Thruxton crash, and was mostly about getting back into racing after the incident. With a two month gap between Oulton & Snetterton, it was great to get back in the car for Friday testing at the Norfolk circuit. Snetterton is a circuit that has always been kind to me, qualifying 5th for my first ever car race in 2008 and clinching the Superlight R400 championship there last year.
This year however, things didn’t go my way in qualifying as I struggled to get a consistent lap time together meant I lined up a disappointing 15th on the grid, doubly disappointing seeing as I was one of the fastest cars around the first half of the lap. After qualifying I had two races to complete on Saturday, making for a very busy day for us all. Race one took place in dry conditions and I made a new places off the start, but was prevented from moving further up after a safety car on lap 4 scuppered my chances of moving further up the grid. Due to the race only being 11 laps, by the time the incident had been cleared and the safety car had gone in it left me with too few laps to move further up the order.
Rain between race 1 and two meant, for the first time this year, I would be racing the G50 in the wet. Not being used to full on rain tyres (the Caterham’s always ran a treaded tyre, no slicks & wets) I was initially surprised by just how much grip the tyres gave and quickly gained confidence in them as I again climbed up the order, taking advantage of other people’s errors to get my first top ten finish of the year – a solid 9th place.
On Sunday the sun was back out and the crowds were flocking in. Our Sunday race took placein the afternoon in front of a great crowd. The race itself however was short-lived, an accident involving Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey, brought out the safety car for the second time for the weekend. However, a 7th place finish marked my best performance of the year so far.
Moving forward two weeks, I arrived at the home of british motor racing, Silverstone, for rounds 18 & 19 of the G50 Cup. Despite the forecast claiming that we would be in for wet weekend, all the weekends running took place under dry conditions. After some fundamental set-up changes in testing we seemed to unlocked something extra in the car, catapulting to an excellent 5th place on the grid. For the Saturday race, poleman Chris Dittman retired with a broken driveshaft, putting me up to 4th as the lights went out. Through all 22 laps I held my position well, to cross the line a superb 4th, meaning a podium place was insight for the race on Sunday.
After a losing a few places off the start on Sunday I was holding 5th position well, until being turned around by Dittman on the final corner, dropping me to 9th. A disappointing end to an otherwise fantastic weekend.
Unfortunately, budget shortages means that I will be missing the next round at Knockhill but will be out again at my favourite circuit, the re-opened Donington Park, at the end of the next month.
Hope to see you there
Dan