Castle Combe Race May 2011

Qualifying
This would be my first race of the 2011 season due to finances not allowing me to get out sooner, it was good to catch up with the guys again and meet some new faces. I was confident of putting in a decent performance as I felt I had really improved in my last race at Mallory and had put some good runs in at trackdays over the winter. The morning was wet and it was raining during qualifying so it wasn't getting any drier, it was lucky that I needed new tyres as these definitely helped with grip on the wet track.
Started off slowly to get myself used to the car again and the track which I have only done 40 minutes on before; then I started to increase the pace and found a good level of grip. I then started catching and passing everyone on track quite easily. I finished the session feeling like I had done a solid job but with room for improvement. I was amazed to find myself in second place, occupying the front row of the grid, by far my best qualifying ever! Although I was about 0.8 seconds off pole I was 0.9 seconds faster than 3rd place so this gave me some confidence going into the race to be able to maintain my position.

Race 1
After a long agonising wait we eventually got around to starting the first race at 4pm, I was getting concerned that the rain was easing off as the set up of the car and style of my driving obviously favoured wet weather. I didn't make a good start loosing several places going into the first corner but then one of those who got past me spun and I narrowly missed his front end as it came in front of me. This left a reasonable gap behind me and I was in 3rd place; I then lost a place going into the last corner putting me in 4th as we completed the first lap. Coming back into the first corner 2nd place spun off the circuit which left me in 3rd place right behind 2nd place and I had noticed he seemed to be really lacking grip going into the corners. A couple of corners later he went very wide and I was easily able to pass up the inside. I then pulled out a bit of a gap and noticed a few laps later that a different car was now catching me so I increased my pace and managed to maintain a gap all the way to the finish despite delays behind back markers. After what seemed like forever I came home in 2nd place! Mine and the Sakari Racing teams best result ever! Such a great feeling to finish so well although I was a bit disappointed at the total lack of any kind of podium or award ceremony after the race especially this was my first time in this position.

Race 2
Unfortunately the track had dried up for the 2nd race as we were the last race out on the circuit, this wasn't going to be good for my set up but I was still going to give everything I had to finish as high as possible. Again didn't get a good start and got passed by several cars on the first lap, eventually coming around in 5th place to start the second lap. I then managed to get past one car into 4th and maintained this position for 3 more laps until I was caught up by Jonny White. Coming into the 2nd chicane I could see him closing behind me but a couple of car lengths back and knowing that you can't fit 2 cars around that corner took my usual line. However he came up the inside of me and barged me completely off the circuit. I had to take to the grass and just managed to keep it in a straight line to rejoin in 7th place. I wasn't particularly happy at this point and managed to catch up to the back of 6th place but then as I was about to enter the chicane again the engine spectacularly blew up! All I could see where large flames coming from the engine bay so I pulled off the circuit and stopped at a marshals point. This video (http://vimeo.com/24473674) shows just how bad it did go. The engine is a write off and I am having to miss the next race in order to pay for a new one but I still left the circuit in a good mood with the days earlier results.

My first podium achieved and the teams second in only its second season, now Chris just has to get pole position and a race win to go one better!