THRUXTON CIRCUIT UPDATES.
FOLLOW ROSS ALEXANDER THROUGHOUT THE SEASON.
Find out how the race at Thruxton went below:
QUALIFYING:
How did you find qualifying day did it go to plan?
So I had never been to Thruxton prior to this race weekend and its actually known as the fastest circuit in the UK which made me super nervous. It had been raining lightly most of the morning but about 30 minutes before we went out on track, it started raining pretty hard. The team and I were unsure of which tyre would be best for the current conditions but we decided that if we can get enough temperature into the tyres, we could make the dry tyres work I went out and did 2 warm up laps while familiarising myself with the track and the rain just got worse and worse. I went for my first push lap where the overall grip was very poor, the car was understeering and oversteering everywhere but we pushed through and managed to qualify 3rd overall and was quicker than the classes above me which I was super happy with.
RACING:
Race 1 was a lot dryer but still damp and greasy, I managed to get a good start off the line and overtook both drivers in front of me which meant I had took the lead. I managed to maintain a good level of pace and managed to pull an 8 second gap to 2nd place until another racer crashed which brought out the safety car and bunched us all together. Due to the size of the crash, race control decided to red flag the race which meant I had finished 1st place!
Race 2 was much dryer but was nerve wrecking as I was now starting P1 on the grid. I managed to get another good start off the line which had me leading the race yet again but there was a crash behind me into turn 1 which brought out the safety car straight away. I took that opportunity to warm up the tyres and brakes as much as possible before the safety car returned to the pits and I restarted the race. After leading the race for a while, there was yet another big crash. The first marshall post was waving yellow flags and I had my eyes on the second marshall post to see if they were going to continue the race with the green flag or keep us as a slower speed with the yellow flags. For some reason, the second marshall post didn’t display any flags which confused me and the drivers behind me as we weren’t sure whether we could continue racing or not. I chose to stay at a sensible speed as no flags were shown to signify we can go back racing but the 4 drivers behind me did the opposite and drove straight past me while I was driving within yellow flag speeds. I put my foot down and chased the cars in front of me and managed to overtake the driver in front which put me 4th overall and 3rd in class. It was a very frustrating situation as I feel I had lost those positions unfairly, especially after such a dominant weekend.
How are you feeling about the next race?
I am feeling positive about the next race, the car is slowly coming together and the pace we have is increasing so I am hoping to fight for more wins at our next race weekend which will take place at Snetterton circuit.
Is there anything you’d like to change about the last race or work on for the next?
I would change the fact that I continued to drive slowly after the yellow flags as it ultimately caused me to lose the win, along with a couple of other positions.
