Overall an action packed weekend with plenty of highs, lows and drama for the team.
On Friday John was in the hot seat perfecting the seat up and receiving tuition from ex-BTCC driver and 2009 Clio Cup UK Champion Phil Glew. Although the track was dry there was a lot of mud and debris on the surface from the previous days test session in the rain. John was pushing hard and bringing the lap times down until a wheel strayed onto the wet grass and sent the car into the armco at Starkey's Bridge.
Damage was to the front end and passenger side. Luckily the radiator remained intact but the N/S wing mirror folded round and shattered the passenger window. Mark from MWT Automotive & John worked to get the car back in one piece and back out for the afternoon session.
Come Saturday the decision was made to run both the road and race classes at the same time. John qualified P19 for Race 1 and P18 for Race 2.
Starting from the back of the grid in race 1 John managed to get the better of Nic Harrison to finish P16 overall and P4 in the Road Class. The road class is split into two categories Expert ,for drivers with previous circuit racing experience, and sport for newcomers. A last lap mechanical problem for sport class rival and former championship winning rally driver Luke Pinder gave John the sport class victory.
On Sunday the team felt confident going into the second race and a podium finish was looking likely. As the lights went out John had what he described as his best start so far however this unfortunately put him right into the middle of an unfolding drama.
Contact between cars running at the back of the race class caused a spinning race car to hit road class front runner Jake Honour. The impact pushed his car directly in front of John who with nowhere to go collected him with such force it lifted both vehicles off the ground and pushed the 27 car into the gravel. As the race car continued to spin it was then collected by Sarah Franklin who has posted up this footage of the incident:
With smoke billowing out from the front end John retired the car on the Craner Curves. Post race inspection showed the washer bottle and bumper was rubbing on the tyre, whether the tyre would have lasted the rest of the lap to make it to the pits and whether we would have been allowed to continue is unknown but unlikely. There was more contact in the race class later on and the majority of the race was completed behind the safety car which pulled in for a one lap shootout at the end.
A disappointing end to the weekend but there were some positives to take away. Luckily we have a good gap before the next race at Brand Hatch.
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