DONINGTON PARK UPDATES.

QUALIFYING:
" I was feeling positive about this weekend as I know I have done well at this track before.

The weather forecast displayed sunshine all day but approximately an hour before qualifying, the sky went dark and the rain came down.

It did dry up slightly but there was still a lot of standing water on the track which meant we were stuck choosing which tyres to fit for the conditions, we decided that if we could warm up the dry tyres enough that they would be the best tyre.

We went out, focused on warming the tyres and brakes while keeping an eye out for any dry areas through all corners, then we began to pick up the pace.

I knew that the track would be at its fastest toward the end of the session to I tried to keep my tyres alive until the final lap where I pushed and managed to qualify P3!"

RACING:
"I was in a good position for the start of the race and I was in the mindset that if I pushed as hard as I could off the line that I could secure first place.

The lights went out and I managed to get into 2nd place through turn 1 and was right on the rear bumper of 1st place, I moved to the right slightly on the entry to craner curve to prep myself for an overtake but didn’t realise there was still a slight damp patch on the outside of the track which caused me to spin at 106mph which meant I finished the race in P8.

The rain came down again for race 2 which I was quite happy about and we went out again.

I managed to get a good start from P8 and made a fair few overtakes while others were struggling with the wet conditions.

I pushed and managed to get myself into P3 until I noticed a slight lack of power down the straights which caused the P4 driver to cruise past me in a straight line which was very frustrating.

I followed him for a few laps so I could gauge where I could get back past him while taking into consideration our power deficit and on the final lap, after a super tough battle, I dived up the inside of the final corner, made the move stick and finished P3!"

"We’re going back to the drawing board to get the car fixed and properly setup for the open class next year so let’s see what happens.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me this season, Sytner MINI, all my family, friends and team, I couldn’t have done it without you all.

Now let’s get the car prepared for next year!"

Images provided by OJL Photos