Brands Hatch - 9th September 2007 - Round 10

Friday testing

I started off on my first few laps around Brands to refamilarise myself with the circuit. The car felt as good as it did when I drove it at Silverstone.

First session went really quickly and I had a really good feeling about the weekend ahead.
Ian and I started to look at details from the telemetry and making small adjustments for me to try which improved the car.

For the final session we put on the last race tyres to see what times I could set. I got down to a 46.5 and finished 2nd fastest.

Sunday morning Qualifying

We arrived early Sunday morning so that the Hospitality suite could be set up as we had some sponsors and family arriving for the day.

Ian and John had already put the new tyres on and the car was ready. I went out for my qualifying run and started off slowly to get some heat in the tyres. After three laps I managed to get a space in the traffic and started building up speed for my flying lap when all of sudden I had no power at all, just the sound of the engine revving when I put my foot down on the throttle.

I coasted into the pits and Ian found the problem to be a broken half shaft. That was the end of my qualifying session.

Another Brands Hatch disaster I thought. Bloody circuit!

Sunday Afternoon Race

Ian and John had done a great job of repairing the car and I was back in the car ready to race. Unfortunately I was starting at the back of the grid. I sat on the grid totally focused on what I had to do knowing I was at the back and Chris Needham was on pole and 25 minutes to catch and pass him.

The green lights went out and I already passed three cars when the red flags came out which meant racing to stop. Back on the grid waiting for the crashed car to be cleared away I was told that the race was shortened to 20 minutes. I began my mental preparation again.

Green lights out and again 3 cars passed on the first lap and I was feeling so confident that no one was going to stop me from catching the leaders. After about one third distance I was up to 4th and chasing hard after the leading 3. I looked at the pit board which showed me at 8 seconds behind and each lap I went past the time was coming down. Some laps I tried too hard and made silly mistakes.

I remained focused and imagined I was doing a qualifying lap every lap and it wasn’t long before I could actually see them just in front and with only 5 minutes to go.

The time came down and with 1 minute to go I caught them on the last lap and finished 4th. I kept thinking if only the race wasn’t shortened by 5 minutes, but it was and there was nothing I could do about it.

I had put on a good display to a lot of people and gave them an exciting race to watch. I got fastest lap and driver of the race.

Roll on Snetterton October 13th and 14th.