Progress
2020 BRSCC Mazda MX-5 SuperCup.
Round 2, Donington Park (National).
This race meeting was scheduled to take place at Anglesey in North Wales, but it was moved to Donington Park due to local gathering laws. Well done to the BRSCC for arranging an alternative venue on the same weekend at short notice. And what a great venue! Donington Park is one of the best circuits in the country.
We had a success ahead of the racing; in testing the brakes worked faultlessly, so my confidence was restored on that side of things after the trouble at Cadwell Park.
To get a fast lap time here, it is all about slip streaming. In qualifying I had one good lap in a slipstream which was enough for 8th, but the other was bulked at the final chicane so I would start race 2 from 13th. I was only 0.2 seconds off the second row, so the pace is coming.
Thinking about it, race one was my first SuperCup race with the car fully working, and it went well. I dropped to 9th on lap 1, but after a good, fighting race, I came home in 5th place. We were all pretty pleased with that and was again only 0.2 seconds off the fastest lap.
Moments before race two there was a rain shower you could only describe as “biblical”. Starting 13th, I struggled to see much at the beginning but the race settled down and the spray subsided. I ended up a fairly distant 11th, so we have work to do in the wet, but I was pleased to have kept it on the island at least. Plenty of others didn’t.
It was dry again by the time race three came round. This was a pretty punchy and aggressive race. Starting 11th I was 13th after lap one, but chipped away and took the opportunities when they arose, including moving up 6 places on lap two through attrition and over takes. For a while I was part of the bumper to bumper group for third place and after a shake out was running in 6th, finishing 7th in the end. I set another competitive lap time, which was third fastest overall so I’m hopeful that final bit of pace will come!
Overall the weekend was positive step forward. I’m still learning the finer details of driving these cars, but racing against talented competition will help me learn. Massive thanks as ever to my partners, Blink Motorsport and my Dad for all their support.
We travel to Silverstone to race the short National circuit next, where I’m really aiming to improve my qualifying results and also race consistency. I should have a good chance to, as I will once again be joining Alex Miller for the ClubSport Trophy, as well as racing in the SuperCup. Whatever happens, there will be more slip streaming action for sure!
Circuit photo credits: Dave Luck.
