Caterham Academy Silverstone – 7th place

To keep the race reports short I’ll split them up then add a summary once I’ve collected my thoughts on an amazing year.

Saturday morning was quali and I managed to get P2 alongside James who was on pole. Really happy to get my 3rd front row start in a row. The front five was the usual crowd so it was going to be another exciting race. I have had a serious problem with my starts and all I wanted to do was get a decent one this time.

The red lights went out and I leapt forward and nailed my best launch. In my excitement I then mistimed the clutch missing 2nd gear and dropped to 5th. Four minutes later I managed to pull possible my best move of the year into the chicane as we went four abreast into the Club braking zone, 4th to 1st in one move! Found myself leading a race for the first time until the Hanger Straight where I was a sitting duck and back to 4th. This carried on for another five minutes until Graham and I were battling over 2nd and in hindsight either of us should have given way and we didn’t and both spun out without hitting each other or anyone else lucky. From 2nd to 11th in one move! Looking back it was a silly situation but on the video I can’t see any reason why the line didn’t work that time. Oh well that is racing.

Graham and I both rejoined the track with five minutes to go and started chasing down the pack. On the way to claiming 6th place I managed to set the fastest lap of the race and a new lap record by 0.4 seconds.

Obviously annoyed with myself for throwing away a likely podium again but getting a new lap record made me feel a little better about it. Also getting away with a massive spin and not damaging anyones car is a big thing to be happy about!

More to follow on the other race.