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RACE REPORT - SILVERSTONE: 29th/30th August 2009

FRIDAY

Practice 1
After being out of the car for so long I was very excited to get back onto a circuit again and shake off the rust, but I didn’t get the clean problem-free session that I wanted and missed most of the end of it when the track was getting better.  That meant I didn’t have much of an opportunity to either dial myself in or set the car up.
 
Practice 2
My on-track problems continued with a gearbox issue in this session, once again leaving me behind on laps compared to everyone else.  I was faced with either sitting-out the session or driving around the problem and, having chosen the latter, was pleasantly surprised to learn I wasn’t that far off the pace.

SATURDAY

Qualifying 1

With my car’s technical problems behind me I started well and stayed in the top four for a lot of the session but I made a big mistake going into turn 2 on what would have been a considerably faster lap and ruined it.  Unable to get a clear, clean run after that I finished the session a very disappointing 14th.

Qualifying 2

Q2 was a slightly better session but still not where I wanted to be. I was in P1 from early in the session right until the final few minutes but luck was not really on my side this weekend and as I started what should have been my quickest lap of all, a car came out of the pits and took my line. With this series being so competitive and the times so close, this was enough to spoil this session too and I finished the session in 7th.

SUNDAY

Race 1
 
I made my usual good start and made a couple of positions making sure I was in a position to challenge for more before as things started to settle down. On about lap three I made a move going into turn 2 but slightly out-braked myself, touched the car in front of me and spun.  This dislodged my front wing and left me with zero front downforce.  Under the circumstances it was probably a bit ambitious trying to continue my progress, and when I tried another pass on the next lap that co-incided with my arrival at the first big breaking point after the previous incident, I discovered the full extent of the existing damage to my car the hard way!  As soon as I hit the brakes my fronts locked up and I was a passenger, with the resultant trip taking me over the curb and into another car which took my front end right off.  I made it back to the pits where my team attempted to fit another nose so I could go back out and get some more laps under my belt or maybe even try for the fastest lap.  Unfortunately when the first nose was ripped off it broke the mountings too so there was nothing left to do but park up and transfer from being a driver to being a spectator for the remainder of the race.  Needless to say that is not a role I enjoyed!
 
Race 2

Race 2 was a very interesting race as we all thought it was going be wet and went to the assembly area on wets, but at the last minute we opted to go back to slicks as the track was drying out.

Once again I made a good start as did those around me but I made up a place to 6th.  With everyone on a charge, this is the way it stayed until about 5 laps from the end when my team-mate got around me going into Brooklands. Closely locked together we caught another of our team-mates, Harry Tinknell and concentrated on getting past him rather than battling each other.  As Euan got past Harry on the last lap, the door opened for me to go around the outside of him at turn 1 on the last lap and this put me into 5th where I stayed.

Our next race weekend, 19th/20th September, sees us visiting what is probably the most unusual circuit on our calendar – the Rockingham Motor Speedway – where we get the chance to use part of the banked oval.  It’s always a challenge, particularly if the famous British weather intervenes, and one I am really looking forward to.
 

All the best

Josh Scott

   Photos by Jakob Ebrey