Like Rockingham, I wasn't looking forward to this. I've never been very good around here and on the back of a VERY poor showing at Brands, the stage was set for further misery.
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Matty and Woody - Hard at work.
Thursday
An open-pitlane trackday which certainly helped my knowlege of the track, if not my overall pace. I took a few people out on passenger laps one of whom was Jono who in early August will be marrying the long-suffering Bex.
Friday
Qualifying
The only event for us was qualifying and did it rain. That wasn't a question. At our allotted time, Rob went out for the obligatory but time-discounted three laps and handed over to me. Now I've become fairly confident in the wet, but only in an SR3. I've had so little time in the SR8 in the wet, I pussyfooted around. The net result was a dismal and distant P10 on the grid. There were SR3s in front of me. Pussyfooted is right because Barbie, our deaf and partially-sighted cat who is suffering with a weak heart, could have slept his way around the track faster than I.
Saturday
Race 1
It can only be described as comical. I mean really comical. From P10 on the grid, I found myself in P3 by the Old Hairpin. How funny is that? Better still, at the end of the second lap, a missed downshift for the Woodward/Kaiser car meant I was up into P2 and I was nowhere near the pace. Derek Johnston (racing alone this weekend) was tearing off into the distance; this is his home track!
Leading the way!
My job was simply to make sure I held my championship rivals behind me. That meant sacrificing lap times to make passing as difficult as possible. I could feel the anger, resentment and abuse being hurled at me from Ben and Nick behind me which only added to my amusement. Of course this made Derek's lead enormous, but if I wasn't going to be on his pace, I was going to make my co-driver Rob's job in the second stint as easy as possible. If the chasers had passed me, Rob would have been lying a distant fourth at best after the pitstop.
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Still in the lead!
Then, as I told my pit crew over the radio, christmas had come early; the race was brought under the safety car for an unrelated incident. Derek's 17 second lead evaporated in a swamp of expletives (I'm guessing). Top top comedy. And on the restart, he completely missed the green flag and I was up into the lead. Something like 200 years off the pace and I'm leading. Hahahahahaha. Seriously, it was hysterical. Derek took his rightful place back by the end of the lap but within two more, the safety car was again deployed. By now the pit window had opened and in second place, I dived in to hand over to Rob.
With Rob being classed as a "pro" driver, we have a ten-second longer stop than either Derek or Ben, and we emerged from the driver-change third in class, about 15 seconds behind them. Rob was taking huge chunks out of them and within five laps, he'd passed Derek. Ben was only a few seconds down the track and sure enough, Rob had retaken the lead three laps later. The remaining four laps saw him stretch the gap, but he wasn't able to take the fastest lap off Ross Kaiser who'd managed a 1.29.638 to Rob's 1.29.686. Should have pulled your finger out mate!
Race 2
The race 1 result put us on pole for race 2. The start was in marked contrast to the first race and I went from first to third. Derek was up my inside and Ben was leaning on me. I had to concede to both Ben and Woodward/Kaiser. Derek had been forced wide, lost some ground and gained some grass. But it was a different story this time. My pace was much better and I wasn't being dropped by the two in front. Derek soon made up the time and after some serious battling, I conceded third place. It wasn't all that bad, I was able to keep up with him and we had a fantastic battle for a few laps. Clearly struggling with a poor car, Derek conceded back to me and I began to close the gap towards the two in front. I pitted at half-distance in a strong third place.
Rob took over and had to chase Ross Kaiser and Ben Jackson. Soon enough they both overtook Ben and Rob started to swap fastest lap with Ross. I've no doubt that Rob would have caught and passed Ross had the safety car not been deployed at just the wrong time. There were two lapped cars between Rob and Ross which meant that on the restart, Ross had a serious head-start. That didn't stop Rob reeling-in Ross and by the chequered flag, he was only a second behind. Two more laps I reckon and victory would have been ours. Still, he did manage to put in the fastest lap of the race.
So I want to make this clear; we came away from Donington with a race win and a second-place. Utterly unbelievable. Totally unexpected and hugely welcomed. Our first race win in the Masters' Class.
Reflections
Derek summed it up well when he admitted that there was no way he should have won the first race of the season at Rockingham; the safety car lost us that race. In a similar way it was the safety car that reduced Derek's lead at Donington and made Rob's life much easier.
I usually own up to the fact that without Rob, I wouldn't have been on top of the podium. And it's true. Having said that, keeping the chasing pack behind me for the whole of my stint in the first race indisputably played a vital role. My pace in the second race also kept us in it so for once, whilst not claiming the weekend's success was all mine, nor was it all Rob's.
Thanks
To the Works Team and particularly Simon and Matt. They worked hard all weekend and particularly in between the two races. Also to the ever-present Josh and Michael who have provided me with more photos from Brands which will be placed on here as soon as I can. No doubt there'll be some Donny pictures coming too.
Next
A quick trip to Silverstone for a bit of time on the GP circuit this Thursday 9th July. Then it's Castle Combe the following weekend 18/19th July. And you know what? I'm going to win.
Other News
Amazingly, I'm joint top of the Radical Championship with Derek.
Castle Combe Next.
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