Hope you’ve all had a good weekend? We’ve had a mixed but good weekend at Snetterton.
Friday practice started dry but ten minutes into the first session it poured with rain, then came the thunder and lightning! This was great for us, as I’ve not driven on the Dunlop wet tyres before so a great chance to test them. Shortly after our session had ended the the circuit was flooded and the power was out. The rain kept falling and falling and this meant delays in the schedule. Eventually the power was fixed and when the rain eased up testing continued with shortened sessions for everyone. So out we went with another chance to test the wet tyres but unfortunately the bolt holding the gear change broke after only four laps. Better now than in a race! This is something that couldn’t be fixed in the session but as the circuit started to dry we knew we needed some running on slick tyres so back out we went. Driving with only one hand while the other hand was used to hold up the gear change rod and change gear by pushing and pulling it through the bulkhead, was a new challenge and we were never going to set any competitive times but did learn gain some valuable circuit time.
Saturday morning qualifying was a fairly straight forward session but unfortunately just after warming up our first set of new tyres, out came the red flags and the session was stopped. This meant the best of the tyres was lost but still managed to put it on P2 on this set, once the session restarted. After a quick pit stop from the team out we headed on set two. Immediately we set the fastest times of the session and it looked like we would be on pole position only to then be knocked back to second place by championship rival Josh Files. This is where we would start both races from.
We lined up for race one on slick tyres but with a big black rain cloud heading towards us in the distance. As lights went out we were off to a flying start, leading comfortably into the first corner. There was no looking back from here. We kept edging away from Files in second place and third place was nowhere to be seen. As the rain got closer and closer it was a question of could we finish before it started. Just, was the answer as it poured down just as the chequered flag dropped. This was probably the best win so far this year as we finished 3 seconds in front of second place and 15 seconds in front of third.
No questions of changing weather for Sundays race. It was dry and if we could get another good start there’d be no stopping us. This wasn’t to be though as I spun the wheels off the line dropping back to third by the first corner. At turn four I launched up the inside into the hairpin to retake second but then was immediately back under attack down the back straight with us heading three wide into the next corner. We dropped back to fourth but soon reclaimed third and was hot on the heals of Hodgetts for second. All this had allowed Files to pull out a comfortable lead. I knew I needed to get back to second quickly to have a chance of chasing down the lead, but this wasn’t to be as I just couldn’t find a way through. With the chance of winning now out the window I mounted a last lap challenge for second only to make a mistake, touching my wheels off the circuit on the entry to Hamilton corner. This meant a massive sideways slide and a place dropped. So fourth place it would be at the finish.
This now leaves us 13 points behind in the championship with it all to play for in the last four races. Next up Rockingham on the 14th/15th September. I can’t wait!