20 September 2005

KNOCKHILL/DONINGTON/SILVERSTONE RACE REPORT

Knockhill lived up to its reputation weather-wise with some rain at the test and on the Sunday. We were really doing quite nicely in the dry and going very well but unfortunately the fearsome chicane at Knockhill put paid to any chance of a good result in race one. Flying over that corner on the second lap caused the left rear damper to break, the subsequent handling of the car was odd, to say the least, and I fought a rearguard action from there on, dropping from fourth to seventh at the flag. Race two was held in very wet conditions and sixth was the best I could manage as I couldn't get the grip or drive out of the corners sufficiently to be on the ultimate pace, most perplexing!

The World Series at Donington was held on the longer, GP circuit configuration and once again testing was good with a time that put us bang on the pace. Qualifying was in the wet, however, and this proved a disaster for all the TCR runners except Jonathon, who made pole. The rest of us were a frustrated ninth, 10th and 11th. Race one was wet and once again we struggled and eventually finished seventh, not a very convincing race at all. Race two was dry and my optimism about the race result, as well as my race, were shortlived. Having made a good start and having driven the first part of the lap feeling ever confident, the car felt superb and we were really making up ground I was punted off at the Melbourne hairpin, most distressingly of all the culprit was my team-mate, Ben Winrow. No comment.

One week later saw the Clios back with the BTCC at Silverstone, this year being held on the short national circuit. The car was flying and in testing we were second only to Jonathon. My best-ever qualifying saw me take two front-row grid slots, qualifying second for both races with my team-mate alongside me.

Saturday's race was the best race I have ever had as Jonathon Adam and I were the class of the field and pulled out a considerable margin on the rest of the field. We were never less than 0.3 seconds apart and it was an immensely enjoyable race. I had agreed to support Jonathon's title hopes and would not put in any daft moves on him but, by his own admission, I had him sweating for it all the same. Having set the fastest lap, which is now the lap record too, I finished second and knew that the second race was mine for the winning. Oh, how wrong I was to be.

Sunday's race was dry but noticeably colder. I knew that getting temperature into the tyres was going to be incredibly important if I were to have sufficient pace on the opening lap. As we set off on the warming-up lap I was weaving as normal and was surprised that I had quite a lot of grip in the rear… at that point I managed to lose control as the rears caught me out, something that has happened before to me and others, the problem was where I was heading. The car speared left and made contact with the wall, game over. The despair I have felt from that point on has been excruciating, no matter how many commiserations I have received. I truly ballsed it up in some order. I know the team share my absolute frustration but it's done and we will now go and head for the final race more determined than ever!