29th August 2018
Following my dream weekend at Rockingham with a 1-1-2, you kind of go to the next meeting sort of confident, but also well aware that your luck may change…
We tested at Knockhill on Monday, as I hadn’t ever driven round here before it was really useful to get some track time in, get the car set up how I wanted it and generally familiarize myself with the track, which is so much more undulating than the impression you get from watching it on TV.
Quali went well, with a P2 and P1 for the two races. I was really pleased with that as there are only a few places you can really overtake on this circuit so a good start position is crucial.
Race day was really wet so all our set up had to change. Despite this, the circuit isn’t too slippery (unlike Rockingham) but I still had to be careful. I managed to pass pole man James Hedley from just after the start in to the first downhill bend, and from there just stayed in the lead to finish 5 seconds ahead of 2nd place. In some ways it’s easier if you’re at the front when it’s raining because there’s no spray, but in other ways it’s more tricky because you can’t see from the other cars where it’s slippery so I couldn’t relax in case I spun off.
Second race the weather got really bad. They had just red-flagged the touring car race so I knew it was pretty hairy, I watched a bit of their race where they were having problems which was at the hairpin so I knew I had to be careful there. Anyway, lights out and GO! Adam Smalley almost had me at the start but I managed to maintain my position. Adam and I managed to pull away from the pack but a safety car bunched us all back after an incident and Luke Browning managed to overtake Adam into the hairpin once we were back racing again and I know Luke is strong in the wet so I had to really concentrate on not making ANY mistakes. I went a bit wide at one point but fortunately he wasn’t close enough to take advantage and I managed a lights-to-flag victory! I was so amazed that I had won again, it has been a surreal couple of weeks. I’m really looking forward to Silverstone in 17 days, it’s an iconic track and one that so many motor racing legends have driven on, so I hope to do as well as I can there.
My mechanic James did an amazing job on the car this weekend, huge thanks to him and all the team at Elite for a great weekend. And as ever my sponsors Vansdirect and Carwow. And to my parents who had to stand out in the rain watching me race!
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