Before the weekend began I had decided to spend some time on a simulator in order to try to be more focused when I arrived at the circuit on Friday morning. Thus, I went to Izone’s simulator on Thursday evening for an introductory session which would be my first time on a simulator and I was very impressed. Obviously it goes without saying, simulators are not real and therefore you would think it would not be a benefit, however with a serious approach and methodology, it was certainly useful and I was able to apply things I had learnt on the simulator during Friday practice such as lines, use of kerbs and gear selection. As a result, on Friday I was able to make progress with car setup and work on my new tyre performance in preparation for qualifying.

Saturday’s qualifying took place in the scorching midday heat. The first new tyre run was a messy affair as my three lap qualifying run was ruined by an off track excursion from Euan Hankey and then queuing of cars into the final corner. This left me with a lot of work to do as I decided to abort the run and pit for my second set. Thankfully this time, I found a perfect gap in the traffic to enable me to do a three lap consistent run and not trip over anyone. My lap time fell to put me seventh for Race One and sixth for Race Two.

This weekend, Round 16 was on Saturday evening at an unfamiliarly late time of 17.45. I got off the line well from seventh position and kept to the inside for the opening sequence of corners. A crash further down the field had left oil on the track on the entry to Surtees and this meant it was very difficult to judge the corner for the opening few laps. On lap five, the two cars immediately ahead of me: Michael Meadows and Jonas Gelzinis, both tried the normal racing line into Surtees only to find the track still slippery and went off. With huge momentum on the pair, I moved to pass Meadows as he rejoined the track. However he also had momentum on Gelzinis and as he went to pass him, immediately there was a problem as three cars wide just didn’t fit! I was nudged onto the grass and over the bumps lost my splitter. Unknown to me, I thought I had a puncture – such was the ill handling nature of the car, and after deciding two laps later something was definitely wrong as I tumbled down the order, was forced to pit. I rejoined way down the field and recovered a few positions to finish fifteenth. I was gutted as for the third race in a row, luck was still not on our side. As my Dad reminded me however, at least I had a strong grid slot to look forward to tomorrow.

Sunday would continue to provide perfect weather conditions for Round 17. I made a good start from the outside of row three to move across and immediately fend off James Sutton behind. The first three laps were closely fought as Meadows held up the pack allowing Pole man Nick Tandy to immediately breakaway. For the third time into Druids, teammate Stephen Jelly managed to get up the inside of Meadows with a robust move. This held up Gelzinis and Hankey on the run down to Graham HIll, allowing me to get a run on the pair into Surtees. Hankey managed to keep fourth but I was able to snatch fifth from Gelzinis. One lap later and race leader Tandy had suffered from a puncture – the result of pushing too hard on the tyres too early. This promoted me to fourth as I hung on to the battle for second ahead whilst Jelly now pulled away into the lead. I managed the tyres well in the first half of the race, trying to keep off the kerbs especially at Paddock, unlike Gelzinis who too suffered a puncture. It then became apparent that a lot of the other drivers were also getting punctures in the searing heat so I decided to ease off and make sure I got to the finish in fourth position. James Sutton applied some pressure in the closing stages as he chased me down but I managed to do just enough to keep him at bay until the flag.

It was such a relief to finally to get a good result after three nightmare races. Unfortunately consistency has hindered my championship aspirations this year but with some small fortune there is no reason why I can’t have top five finishes every weekend. There is now only one race meeting left at Silverstone and I am determined to end this year on a high.

Sam

Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (http://www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk/)