Tough start to the Sigmax Championship 2014

With limited testing this year I always knew that the step up in class this year to the Sigmax Championship was going to be a difficult one. With no Graduate races in the school holidays and therefore no Friday testing the challenge was on. Having managed to get away from school at lunch time to sprint over to Donington to get out in the final test session I was disappointed to only get about 4 laps in the 20 min session. 2 red flags pretty much meant that the effort unfortunately wasn't worth it.

 

Qualifying was interesting. Cars appeared to be packed and grouped together. I was disappointed to qualify 12th and 10th with no clear lap completed. My fastest lap didn't even had a tow. Disappointed as I know I can drive the car faster. So Qual was hard. I didn't play it right. Didn't get a clean lap. Got boxed in. People playing weird games. My fastest lap I didn't even get a tow down the dunlop straight! Came off knowing I could drive faster which was frustrating. Poor qualifying then had an impact on my whole weekend.

Race 1 ended up wet. However I did achieve the 4th fastest lap time as the track was drying. Then the safety car came out then it rained. Then I became a pansy and just wanted to bring the car home in one piece to race on Sunday. But did managed 9th.

Race 2. I lost 4 positions at the start. Had a good battle with people around me. Until going into the final chicane the car in front braked very very hard, I in turn braked very very hard, locked up the rear and that made the car stall through the chicane! (Which apparently is caused by the lighten flywheel?!) By the time I had restarted I had lost 4 places and was battling for 11, 12, 13, 14. I was all over them but couldn't shift them with the slip stream. I then spun at the exit of the old hairpin. Typical because I had the Motors TV camera onboard! However all is not lost. 10th in championship!

The weekend was very challenging. However I have reflected very well on it over the last 24 hours and all is not lost. The biggest issue is that no one looks at a results sheet and says 'Who did testing and who didn't! Unfortunately I can not test and Im going to pay the price very heavily. If there wasn't a value in testing on a Friday - no one would do it!  The aim is to have fun and enjoy racing. A step in class means I'm learning. Learning is good.