Exams Aced, Fast Paced

It had been a long wait to mid August to finally receive our A level results. That week, on the Thursday I learned that I had achieved three good grades, an A, a B, and a C in my three chosen subjects. This put me in a good frame of mind leaving on Friday for the upcoming race weekend which we were going into with the ambitions of making this round our third win, and fourth podium of the season.

Not ideal but we have always had to skip the practice days as this would add so much extra cost to the race season, so we arrived late Friday night at the iconic Brands Hatch circuit after work and the long drive down, and jumped straight in. Fortunately I have driven the circuit before, this is actually my fourth visit since my first time in the Junior Saxo. Huge thanks again to Charlie for driving the round trip with #AudreyTheAudi in tow,...(he can also now say his van has driven on track at Brands Hatch as you have to drive larger vehicles across to get to the garages which are in the centre of the circuit).

We had a very strong performance here last year leading our class for most of the race on the long 2.4 mile GP circuit. This time for the BRSCC Supersport Endurance Cup, we would be racing the shorter 1.2m Indy circuit and we were concerned that the TT wouldn't be as well suited to it. It was also forecast to be another hot weekend, and both our qualifying and race would be held on the Saturday.

We unloaded Audrey and took a few moments admiring how stunning she looked at night parked up under the lights in the garage, we then had a bite to eat before unloading tools and spares to be ready for an early start in just a few hours.

Saturday morning came fast, and firstly we had to take the car over for scrutineering,( it's unusual at Brands, when the track is active you drive to the main paddock area through a tunnel which actually goes under the track ). Then after driver briefing on to the necessary checks and prepping the car for qualifying at 11.15am,... tyre pressures, fuel, fluids, radios etc.

Again we aimed to complete the 30 minute qualy session with minimum wear and tear to the tyres. So I completed the mandatory three laps safely, warming up a little on the last one before coming into the pits for my dad to reset the tyre pressures, and the crew could use the opportunity to time the pit lane entry/exit duration for the pitstops.

Then I went back out for a couple of fast laps to try and secure that pole position in class, which would allow me to start as far up the multiclass 25 car field as possible. Six laps in I pushed to what I thought was enough a 53.75s, although a couple of 'moments' under braking made me realise 53.9 was a little more comfortable to achieve consistently.

I had spent a few laps trying different approaches to a couple of the corners gaining confidence in the two tricky braking zones, turn one Paddock Hill Bend where you are braking the track elevates slightly and then drops into the fast right hander dipping downhill into Hailwoods, where you then head up hill to the braking zone at Druids where it flattens off into a sharp right hand hairpin. Pleased and confident with my best laptime I parked up in parc ferme, and when the end of the session came confirmed that we had secured pole in Clubman Class A and 11th position over all.

It took a while to be released as all the cars were weighed off for fairness, but as our race wasn't due to start until 2.15pm and we had no mechanical issues this time there wasn't the same pressure in the garage which we had at the last two rounds,..... Audrey was behaving. Lol.

Our grid was called slightly early as the timetable was running ahead of schedule, but the crew had completed all the necessary checks in good time and fully fuelled Audrey. A quick radio check, and we were heading to assembly area for the second time.

After the formation lap I should've started the two hour race from the inside on row 6, and I was focused on my starting plan to widen up just enough to give myself room to get around turn one with speed, but also without letting anyone up the inside. This didn't happen as there was a non starter, so I was promoted to P10 and now starting on the outside. I got a great run up on the rolling start and was forced to go wide to get past then covered the inside at the hairpin..... I got through the first lap safely, (the reassuring thing about this series is it's a reputation with the organisers for clean, low incident races).... I had made three places to P7 already on the first lap, but there was an immediate pause in racing with a yellow flag incident. This lasted a couple of laps until it was cleared and it had bunched the pack up again.

Lap four and we saw green flags again, I got back into my race rhythm quickly, posting three identical laps (53.8s) with the aim of moving up the top ten and building a gap to the second Class A car. But on lap 15 we had another incident leading to a long Safety Car period which would last 12 laps.

On lap 27 the Safety Car peeled into the pitlane and we went racing again, and after running midway into the top ten over all there was yet another incident (Spoke too soon didn't I? Lol ) and a few cars were aiming to take advantage diving into the pits. But the Safety Car was deployed quickly and a couple of them played it safe, aborting their stops & choosing to drive through the pit lane at the safety speed without stopping, thus avoiding the extended pit stop time penalty (which applies in this championship if you pit under the safety car to eliminate gaining an unfair advantage while everyone else is lapping slowly).

In the confusion it took a moment to realise, but that effectively made me overall lead of the race, and I found myself rolling along at the front of the train directly behind the safety car for 8 laps.

This was my first time ever restarting right behind the safety car, ( usually having the Pro cars in front of me ), and when it peeled of into the pits it was nice to lead the race for a couple of laps, and get a few mentions on the commentary. With the heavy fuel load to start the race, and the amount of slower, less fuel thirsty laps we had completed, the team had to rethink our pit stop strategy. We have two mandatory pit stops to complete in race but we didn't actually need any fuel yet. My team instructed me to pit and we made a 'dummy' stop, which allowed me to get a drink but stay in the car simplifying the procedure. We then re-joined the race still inside the top ten,...... and a few laps later made our second stop, this time with a refuel, which meant this time I get out of the car briefly to man the fire extinguisher, and I got to cool off a little too.

We were now a little out of sync to the rest of the teams, but once the remainder had completed their pit stops before the pit window closed, we found ourselves in P5 over all, & with a comfortable lead in class to take us to the chequered flag.... Although I did have a little fun in the last few of my 113 laps battling to pass the Pro C Lotus Exige of Huggins. Post race we received a 30 second penalty for a short pitstop 1.6 seconds under the mandatory 3 minutes, in my haste I had got to the exit line a little early on that second stop, but thankfully it didn't affect the end result for us.

This win in Clubman Class A leaves us taking away maximum points for the third time in a row, meaning we have now also taken a slim lead in championship giving us a chance to end the season on a big high. What a turn around!! We also earned an extra bonus point for fastest lap in class with a 53.69s on lap 58,.. an average speed of 81mph. Plus we are now also running second in the standings for over all points too.

Thanks to everyone who wished me good luck, feeling grateful and humbled to have support from so many people. And we simply wouldn't be able to do this without our sponsors Critical Power and Nurburgring Tours, our racing family Aston, Ryan, Charlie and Carla.....

And we certainly wouldn't be poised in this position going into the final round without the knowledge and mechanical skills of Elliot, who intervened and effectively saved our season. No matter what happens now at Silverstone I am forever grateful to him for enabling us to make these special memories this summer.

Also big thanks to Questmead friction specialists, Shaw Tyres and Exhausts, TT Centre spares, all our loyal Graph X Studio customers, Supergood Bikers for Autism, Xkart/Teamkarting, and Peter Bowman Towing Centre.

Counting down to the season finale September 27th Silverstone National

Down to the wire, never give up.

Sandro#19