Round 3, Silverstone National
If you finish 0.7 seconds behind the race winner, you would expect to come home in second place. Maybe third. In race 3A at Silverstone on Sunday I happened to finish 0.7 seconds behind the winner – in fifth!
The Silverstone National circuit is essentially a triangle, joined up by three long straights. This creates very close lap times and therefore nose-to-tail racing. It’s all a strategy game as while you want to make a move to overtake, you can get hung out to dry and five cars pass before you know it.
Qualifying was a tricky session for me. I didn’t get much track time on Friday, so was quite happy to pound round finding my limits. This would come in handy later on, but I missed out on the all-important slip streaming required to bag the fast times. I was 7th in session, so started race 1A in 14th.
As expected, all of the races were close and action-packed. In 1A I moved forward to finish 10th, which was good. In race 2A I was running up in fourth for a while, but took a hit (from my team mate!) and dropped to sixth. In race 3A I dropped initially but as the car came on I managed to work through and was running in the lead bunch by the end.
That fifth place represented my best result to date and I feel we’re making good progress at each meeting, thanks in no small part to AB Motorsport, my sponsors and my Dad. It was also great to have support at the circuit over the weekend too from Cambridge FD, Freshcold and my old university friend, Barny.
The next race is at Oulton Park in Cheshire – a rolling circuit and pretty much the opposite of Silverstone National. Let’s get stuck in!
