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Win at Rockingham 26th May 2008 Rockingham, a track I know quite well having worked there, has seen The Team Trimite Brookspeed Viper take the lead in the championship! Myself and Jon are now 3 points clear of 2nd place at almost the halfway point of the season!  Before the racing had even started we were given some good news. Due to a number of cars being excluded from Knockhill for passing under yellows, we had been promoted to 2nd place in round 4, matching our best finish of 2nd in round 3. This put us 2nd in the championship, heading to the tracks we know are going to be good for us. The on track action started with dry testing, allowing us to try the car without the restrictor that we had been allowed to take out thanks to the latest equalisation efforts by the championship organisers. I couldn’t feel much difference in performance, but it did seem to help us a little considering we had previously struggled to keep with the pace of the other cars in the championship. Saturday testing saw us always inside the top 10, as we worked on perfecting the setup of the Dodge Viper. Sunday was a day for more testing, qualifying, and round 5 of the championship, and it was one of the wettest days I have ever been witness too! As Saturday testing was dry, we had to make our very best educated guess on setup, and with a few small tweaks, we were very quickly happy with the handling. This was a good sign, and a testament to mine, Jon’s, and Andy the Chief Engineers setup skill. Qualifying went well for both myself and Jon, despite the fact that river were beginning to appear across the circuit, causing cars to aquaplane. I posted a lap time of 1:36.74 that put me 3rd fastest in the first session, just behind two Lamborghinis that proved to be very nimble in the wet. Jon was able to qualify 7th with a lap time of 1:37.42 which put us as the top qualifying Dodge Viper in both races. Round 5, the first race of the weekend, took part on Sunday afternoon, in conditions that were considered questionable for racing. On the parade lap to the grid, I encountered no less than 5 puddles right across the circuit, that caused the Viper to aquaplane for a short while. Much discussion took place between drivers, teams and organisers as to whether the race should start, or be abandoned. The decision was to start the race behind the pace car, completing at least the first two laps behind the safety car. As we finished the second lap, the lights on the safety car went off, so we knew the race was going to begin in the treacherous conditions. The second placed Lamborghini of Oliver Morley was slow to build up speed, allowing the first placed Gallardo of Machitski to get a small lead. I was able though to line up Morley immediately and pass him on the run down to the second corner, being sure not to throw it off on the soaked circuit. I then set about reeling in the number 9 Gallardo that got away at the start, only to find he had a problem round the final section of the circuit. He was having problems selecting gears, so I was able to breeze past to take the lead, and control of the race. The conditions were still awful at this time, so millimetre perfect driving was important to avoid any silly, and costly mistakes. One touch of the grass would have seen any car sail off into a barrier, and the use of the word sail there is quite appropriate! The car felt good and I was able to put in fast, consistent lap times, resulting in a gap of over 5 seconds to the car behind. The pit window had opened and the first of the teams called in their cars for the mandatory pit stop and driver change, but only a few had so far made the stop. From the pit wall the team spotted the safety car about to leave the pits, and immediately made the decision to call me in for our stop, in order to try to gain an advantage from the situation. The call was perfectly timed for us, as I was just entering the final turn and dived in to the pits. The stop was fast, clean and just what we needed to regain our lead. The safety car didn’t stay out for long, but when the dust settled, and with Jon now in the car, we had a 16 second lead! This was perfect, but we knew there was still work to do! The number 21 Lamborghini (those Lambo’s were quick!!), driven by Adam Jones was trying hard to chase down Jon, and on some laps was catching Jon at around half a second per lap. Myself and Andy were in constant contact with Jon over the radio, giving him all the information he needed in the tricky conditions, enabling him to perfectly judge how hard he needed to push in order to maintain our lead! After one hour of racing around the awesome Rockingham Motor Speedway, we had won our very first Avon Tyres British GT race, and collected our 3rd podium of the season. In the process, we gained the championship lead, which we had been working extremely hard for since we started our campaign in March. Podium celebrations, champagne, and a lot of proud and happy people followed, but we knew we needed to prepare for another hard race the next day! Monday was a great spectacle for everybody, I was lucky enough to be joined by my friends from the Peterborough Saxons American Football team, who are also sponsored by Marshall Dodge, and who also won on the Sunday! The team came to the grid, and surrounded my race car with Jon sat in, ready to go. All the cars started the race on slick tyres, but as the race was about to start, it began to rain. It continued to rain sporadically for the rest of the race. Unfortunately, on the first lap Jon was punted off the circuit, and hit the barriers hard, he was able to continue, but the car was looking a little second hand! Jon battled through the pack back up to 12th, before coming in to hand over to me. I jumped into the car, but unfortunately wasn’t allowed to leave the pits until the championship scrutineers were happy that any loose bodywork was secured. This cost us over 2 minutes, and any chance of getting into the points. Eventually we were allowed to leave the pits and I set about salvaging what I could. I was able to un-lap myself from a few cars, and ended up one of the fastest cars on the track. Although the race on Monday was not good for us, we still left the race track as championship leaders and look forward to extending our lead at the next two rounds at Snetterton in Norfolk. I’d also like to thank Team Trimite Brookspeed for all their hard work, and all my sponsors for helping me to do what I love more than anything else. |
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