The weekend was always going to be a hot one, with temperatures in the high 20’s predicted. To make things even harder for all the driver’s humidity of 90% was also predicted all weekend.
Qualifying proved to be as difficult as ever with finding space on track being the ultimate difficulty. Despite not quite getting the clean lap we wanted and with the gear selector issue starting to reoccur, the decision was made to pit early to try and tweak what we had to improve this for race 1 rather than chase a faster time. We ended up 8th in class and 11th overall.
Race one started with a start line incident for a couple of the cars in front. Taking advantage of this and some early opportunistic overtaking, Jamie moved up to 6th overall on the first lap. Things were looking on for a good result, that is until the safety car came out for another car stuck on circuit.
Once running at slower speed the gear selector issue crept in again. This left Jamie stuck in 5th gear to fight the rest of the race. A good battle with Morgan McCourt’s Leastone ensued for a couple of laps, with backmarkers leading to some close racing. Unfortunately a suspension issue with 2 laps to go stopped our chance of a good result.
For race 2 on the Sunday the car’s grid positions are based off their fastest lap times in Race 1 , this put us 7th overall on the grid. After some more alterations to the gear selector system overnight we were reasonably confident that, even if there was a safety car we would not suffer the same gear issues.
After a poor start for race 2 dropped Jamie from 7th to 12th, however after clearing the battle between David Cox and Jon Reed in the classic class, Jamie made steady progress through the field. Another safety car bought the field closer together on lap 9.
Fortunately the changes we had made overnight to the gear system worked, with no issues caused by sitting behind the safety car.
Once the safety car pulled in it was straight on with job of chasing the Morgan’s Leastone once again. Disappointingly the battle was short lived with a mechanical ending their race with one lap to go. At the flag we ended up 8th overall and 5th in class.
Race 3 on Sunday afternoon had us starting in 8th overall. Another poor getaway off the line, this time howerver Jamie managed to get ahead of some of the cars in ‘slower classes’ before the old hairpin so did not to get caught up in their battles. Sitting in 7th and within touching distance of the lead pack, the car seemed to be working well, setting fastest laps of the weekend consecutively for the first 3 racing laps. However, at the end of lap 4, Jamie noticed that some heat starting to creep into the engine so made the decision to ‘back off’. As in any motorsport, to finish first, first you must finish.
As tough as it was to lose 4th in class, it was more important not get another DNF. A lonely race followed, with Jamie making sure just to keep ahead of the cars in his class and ultimately bring the home 8th overall and 5th in class.
While the weekend didn’t provide us the all the results we would have liked, it did push the development of the car further forward. Starting to get to the bottom of some of the issues that caused us problems at Silverstone and behind the safety car was a big positive. Also continuing to show a marked improvement in handling after the set-up changes made for Silverstone, showing us that we are moving the car in the right direction. Only 2 weeks until the next round at Brands Hatch, where the rollercoaster that is the GP layout will really show the car’s development that has taken place in 2023.