From Detonation to Domination

June saw the 4th round of the BRSCC Supersport Endurance cup hosted by Donington Park. It's a track I love even after the disappointment of last years final race, where Audrey the Audi's gearbox gave up after an amazing start, already hunting down second place just 15 minutes into the two hours. The gearbox issues would continue to bug us and spoil the start of this season.

This was our first race to feature on a Sunday programme and so we got the afternoon to go over the car and watch some of the other racing, and the car scrutineered ready for battle the next day. Then we spent an enjoyable evening celebrating Charlies' birthday, who we are very grateful to have as part of our racing family this season, he is responsible for getting Audrey to and from circuits. Thank you Charlie.

Early Sunday morning the weather looked a bit brighter. We had our driver briefing then it was time to prepare for qualifying on the 2.5 mile GP layout of the Donington circuit. We were joined by Elliot, who had built a fresh gearbox with my dad in between this and the last round where we suffered yet another failure ruining a very strong showing in the race. But the timescale and budget meant that we hadn't had opportunity to test the freshly built box, so we planned to complete the mandatory three laps carefully and also bed new brake pads in, slowly get things up to temperature, and then pit and check over everything while recalibrating the tyre pressures.....But Audrey had other ideas, and was intent on creating drama once again....

As I came to a stop at our pit box the fire extinguisher system malfunctioned and proceeded to explode its contents both inside the car and under the hood, prompting an abrupt end to our qualifying session, and a big clean up operation. We could only watch as the time ticked away and hope that that fifth and last lap I did while warming everything up was going to be enough. To our surprise even with so few laps completed, we managed to hang on to Pole position in Clubman Class A and qualify 13th overall, but we had a more urgent problem to deal with if we were going to actually race.

While we cleaned up the car, and myself, my dad was on a mission to find a replacement extinguisher bottle, asking literally every competitor in the paddock in any series if they had a spare bottle like the electronic one we had. Without a new fully pressurised one I would not be allowed to compete in the race which was due to start just after lunch. He came back empty handed and the only suitable one he could find anywhere was fitted in a stricken car which would not be taking part with anything further that weekend. Although it was a similar bottle though, it was fitted on a manual pull system with a different type of cap.

With time quickly running out we made a decision and a plan, and set to work on the conversion to manual system while my dad went to remove the donor, which we had kindly been allowed to borrow by Bromley Motorsport. The team worked quickly knowing that before we could go to the assembly area we would also need to have Audrey scrutineered again to allow us back on circuit. Huge thanks to the guys, amazing teamwork managing to get the job done, passed, and also get the car fuelled up and race ready with 20 minutes to spare. This meant that we had just enough time to do our usual pre race checks and and plan for the race strategy and pit stops etc.

It was a relief to be sat in assembly area after the drama, but so glad that after the team effort that we managed to join the other 25 cars for the start of the race. I would start on row 7 completing a clean sweep of pole position in class starts this year. As we left the formation lap for the rolling start I got stuck in thinking about building a gap before our first pit stop, setting what would be my fastest lap of the entire race 1m45.651 just three laps in. Pit wall were relaying the information over the radio and I kept pushing with fast and consistent pace to create a gap to second place, while also pushing into the top ten over all.

After an hour of racing and 33 laps into the two hour race, I was sitting in P5 over all and on the same lap as the three Pro A cars in front of me, and also held a comfortable gap to the Mazda sitting 2nd in Class. At this point I got called in to pit by my crew for the first of my two three minute mandatory stops. And what an amazing job they did, I got out of the car, and they refuelled, reset tyres, cooled the brakes, and got me buckled back in to continue the second half of the race with a time of 3:02.325s entry to exit line. It was a relief to get a drink and cool off on each stop and after the race. The cockpit was hot as I had been running with the heater on full in an effort to help the engine temperatures and keep Audrey going fast,...every little helps right?

After the stop I got straight back on the pace with 1:46 and 1:47s knowing we had rejoined still inside the top 10 over all, and determined to keep pushing for that first win. I climbed back up to P6 on the second stint still leading Clubman A class and we pitted again on lap 46. Again the crew did an extraordinary job, this time with a 3:02.065 stop (the fastest pair of pit stops in race).

After the remainder of the field had completed theirs we were still sitting in P8 over all, still on the same lap as P5, with only pro drivers in front and a comfortable gap behind to our nearest rival.

Two hours on track and we had led in Clubman A for the entire 65 laps. We passed the chequered flag for that elusive class win, crossing the line only two laps down from the Pro A over all race winner, still in P8 over all, and with a fastest lap too. It felt amazing to roll down the pit lane after the cool down lap with the team cheering and celebrating our first win in cars,....and Audrey forgiven... for now.

Would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who has been on board making this journey happen, we simply wouldn't be able to do any of this without our sponsors Nurburgring Tours & Critical Power, the support of our racing family Aston, Ryan, Charlie and Carla.

And a special thanks goes out to Elliot for his commitment and work under pressure getting Audrey sorted, we wouldn't have made the start without you mate. Really appreciate you helping me get my season back on track, my first win in cars will always be a very special moment.

Also thanks to Questmead, Shaw Tyres and Exhausts, all our loyal Graph X Studio customers, Supergood Bikers for Autism, JPC Specialist Motorsport, Xkart/Teamkarting, Peter Bowman Towing Centre, and of course Bromley Motorsport for the kind loan of the extinguisher.

With the standings updated this result puts us back in the hunt for the championship after all the gearbox woes. Still a big ask as we are trailing by 12 points, but already looking forward to the next race which is at Croft on the 13th July, where we will be hoping we can go for it and close that gap even more in the last three races.

See you there,

Sandro#19

I can legally drink the bubbly now. Lol.