Back in the game
2019 BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship.
Round 5, Snetterton.
The weather over the Snetterton weekend was seriously hot, but that didn’t stop 57 of us entering the fifth meeting of the year. I was keen to put my tricky time at Anglesey behind me and get stuck in.
Qualifying went well and I set the fastest in my group. I was a bit slower than the other group, so started in second place, which isn’t ideal at Snetterton.
I slipped to third at the start of race 1A, which wasn’t surprising. Just before half distance I was able to nip into second place and after that I closed up on the leader, but never managed to quite get in position to pull off a move for the win. Second place was a good result though, so I was a happy chappy.
As well as enjoying the outside starting position in race 2A, I managed to have a poor getaway too and went down to forth. I was up into third though as we went under the bridge on the first lap. This time I had two cars from the same team in front of me and despite a pretty heavy attack early on, I wasn’t able to get into second pace quickly. I did manage it at one third distance, but the gap was large to the front by then. A couple of good laps saw me start to close in but I couldn’t pull away from the cars behind and I was overtaken under the bridge in the end. To be fair, it was a good move by young Jack Brewer! Despite my efforts I couldn’t quite get him back, but another podium is not to be sniffed at!
Between races we had a bit of a drama with the car; the team ended up changing the differential and gearbox, twice. It was close as to whether we would make it out for race 3A, but the BLiNK guys did a great job to get me on the grid.
This time I would start on the inside, although now on the second row. The new gearbox was a different prospect to my old one and I predictably fluffed a change off the start, dropping to forth place in the process. Back into third at the start of lap 2, I set about trying to make further progress, but this let the leader gain some space up front once more. At half distance it all got a little close down the back straight and I ended up on the wrong part of the track, dropping to fifth. Before long I was back into third again and pushing for second place, but wasn’t able to pass. I kept the pressure up and we were separated by under 0.2 seconds at the flag.
I was happy to get my third podium finish of the weekend though and ever happier overall to be back in the mix at the front. There is a bit of a break until Oulton Park, where we can hopefully keep the momentum going.
Circuit photo credit: SnappyRacers Motorsport Photography
