This was a strange one for me and the whole team, because instead of the usual three day meeting, it was just a one day on Bank Holiday Monday, we had to qualify in the morning and then one 45 minute enduro race at the end of the day.
Before the race there was a lot of concern about whether all the cars would finish the race due to fuel issues. But there was nothing we could do about it if they didn’t finish.
In qualifying I held Class B pole for ¾ of the session then in the last few laps the Renault Clio stole it by a tenth which wasn’t a massive problem because I had more power to get of the line.
When it came to the race the start went to plan with the Clio and when lights went out and I passed him, but the next thing I had was the Seat driven by Boyzone singer Shane Lynch coming down the inside of me towards Paddock. I used my sense and let past. It was an endurance race and there was no point trying to win the race in the first corner. Luckily for me the Class A Renault Megan of Simon Gusterson which was on overall pole span causing the Seat and most of the other cars to take evasive action, but for me it was perfect because I just slipped past the whole thing on the grass and took the lead. And from there on that’s how it stayed. And again luck was in my favour because on the last lap the Renault blew its throttle body which meant he crawled to fourth place which gave me an extra couple of points lead in the Championship.
The position with three races to go is: -
Leyton Clarke 105
Quentin Lathwaite 102
Simon Gusterson 97
Martin Wallbank 96
Simon Shaw 88
Our next round is the infamously fast Thruxton where I am confident the Vauxhalls huge power and torque should be too much for the Renault to keep up with. Well that’s the plan. See you after the race.