Brands Hatch - Rounds 11 & 12

After half a day of practice which should have been a full day but shortened due to an oil leak from the oil pump.
My lap times before hand were ok and were about to try some changes to the car but felt it would have been too risky and could have caused damage to the engine.
The MBR team worked really hard to get the pump off and then drive to Lincolnshire to get the pump repaired and get back to finish the car Friday evening.

Qualifying Session

I went out on new tyres and did about 6 laps to get some heat into the tyres before coming in for a quick check and tyre adjustment. I was informed of the lap times of the other drivers and was lying in 6th place.
I went back out and tried to get some quick laps in but kept catching slower drivers which ruined my laps. I decided to hold back until I had a clear run and got down to a 45.03 second lap which put me 4th on the grid behind Aaron Steel on pole then Joe Crook and Mark Harrison.

Race 1

I didn’t make the best of starts as I had too much wheel spin and dropped down to 5th before going into the first corner.
Chris Needham who was in 5th made a fantastic start and was up to 2nd and was defending his place from Crook.
Steel had sneaked away from the battling duo whilst I was finding a way past Harrison.
I eventually got past him going into Druids and tried to get some quick laps in to open the gap up but found I started to struggle with grip causing the car to under steer coming out of the tight hair pin Druids Corner.
Each time coming out of the corner I had to wait for what seemed an eternity to put my foot down to accelerate. Mean while Harrison was beginning to close in on me which made me push harder.
With half distance covered the pace car came out to slow the race down because of a car that had crashed and was in a dangerous position. When the car was cleared out of the way the pace car went in and the race was back on.
As we came back round to the start and finish line Steel went into the pits with a problem which promoted me up to 3rd which with 10 laps to go I managed to hold onto and enjoy my first podium this year in front of my main sponsor Ventmaster.

Race 2

I had a brilliant start and from 4th on the grid got up to 2nd and slotted in behind Steel. Behind me Crook and Needham were battling for position again which allowed me to open a small gap on them but I was unable to stay with Steel due to the car still being a real handful to get round the tight Druids Hairpin.
Crook eventually caught me and past me with Needham stuck to his tail which stopped me slotting in behind Crook.
That knocked me down to 4th again and I was trying to get back in touch with the 2 in front.
After some 15 laps into the race I was coming up to lap some slower cars who were also racing for there own position and didn’t know I was also trying to get past them.
After 3 attempts to get past Mark Harrison and Ray Rowen had caught me and I was now defending as well as trying to get past these lapped drivers.
Harrison managed to squeeze past whilst going round the outside of me and the other cars and Rowen also tried to get past me on the inside.
I move across to try and block his move when we collided and sending me up in the air and spinning me around at 100mph. Fortunately I released the brakes at just the right moment and I was facing the right way and I selected 2nd gear and carried on with race. Ray Rowen unfortunately crashed quite heavily into the tyre wall.
I was now down to 6th and I got some quick laps in again and caught and past Harrison putting me back up to 5th and with a few laps remaining Needham was in to the pits with a broken front wing which promoted me to 4th, which is where I eventually finished.
What a race. I had a great start and a flying 360 degree spin.

Roll on 2009