Finally, 1 week after the events of Pembrey, I have finally had time to go through the events of the weekend, looking back at the results both myself and the Tucker Motorsport team had with great fondness.
The most stressful part of the weekend was always going to be the journey down to the track after the events of Brands Hatch, and thankfully, I made it down there without issue.
Come Friday morning it was time to get the race car out of the truck ready for the test day before the race weekend. The day consisted of 6, 20 minute sessions allowing me to get familiar with a brand new circuit to me, as well as the new Avon tyres for this season.
With many having difficulties getting the Avon tyres to keep up with last years Hankooks, it looked like the weekend was set to be an up hill battle. However, right from the get go I instantly felt comfortable on the Avons and was managing to do times comparable to the leaders running on the Hankooks, all was looking strong for qualifying.
Saturday morning arrived and the Tucker Motorsport family had provided me with a little gift for making it to the track in what i'm sure will now always be called the rainbow van. Along with my lucky "Damn Duck" that has been the Brewer lucky mascot for decades, I was presented with a Unicorn to match the Van and appeared throughout the paddock all across the weekend.
Qualifying could not have gone more to plan. Working with team mate Joe Wiggins from the McAttack car, we managed 3rd and 4th in the group, with my time of 1:16.404 placing me 0.1 ahead of Joe, and allowing me to start 6 places ahead of the next car running on the Avon tyres.
Race 1 soon came around, with me getting nose bleeds from starting so high up, it was always going to be tough to hold my 6th place starting position. By the end of the 1st lap, through poor positioning and a bit of misfortune, I was running down in 10th position with the soft Avon's needing managing to prevent them overheating, the remaining 20 minutes only saw 1 opportunity to regain a position, eventually ending the race 9th after a good battle with Tom Smith.
Sunday was upon us, and unfortunately it was a rough start to the day, feeling extremely under the weather, race 2 came far too early for me, with another difficult start and carrying some damage through from the 1st lap exchanges, the car limped home to a solid if unspectacular 12th position, along way away from where I had wanted to be, but still maintaining the top Avon running car badge thanks to a pass on team mate Marcus Bailey in the closing stages of the race.
After having a pre-race nap, everything was looking very positive again for race 3, with a determination to make up for race 2, and the positivity and determination proved to be well placed. Into turn 1 I opted to take the outside line and out-brake the cars on the inside and it proved to be an inspired move, going from 12th to 9th by the end of the 1st lap. With a little help from Will Blackwell-Chambers retiring, I managed to bring the car home in 8th place setting lap times consistently within a 0.4 second range of each other.
After race 3 it was time to de-rig and set sail back to England.
Would like to say a massive THANK YOU to Tucker Motorsport for their excellent work and dedication all weekend in getting the car up to the sharp end of the grid, and thank you to Avon Motorsport for their assistance and feedback throughout the weekend.
Also thank you to EPTa Projects, Ice Driver and High Row Marketing for their assistance in getting me onto the grid and allowing me to compete.
Next stop Cadwell Park :)
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