DONINGTON PARK…. AN EXTRA POINT FOR A FASTEST LAP!

Donington Park Mx-5 Championship Start

More Covid-19 enforced rules came into play at Donington Park – separate enclosures for drivers, pit crew and spectators and no mixing between the two.

Once again, in qualifying, I put in an excellent performance, finishing in fourth fastest, and putting me on the second row of the grid for the first race. Could I convert this into a race finish on the track?

I must start better!

And once again, my race start wasn’t the greatest! Off the grid, I lost six places and dropped down to tenth on the first lap. I pulled back a couple of places, fairly quickly and was making good progress, but then disaster struck. Coming into  McLeans, I missed my braking point and went into the back of Seb Fisher. This put us both into a slide. Unable to recover from the slide I made contact with Seb again, forcing us off the track and into the gravel. I lost a load of places dropping down to 14th.  Rain in the second half of the race meant some entertaining racing as the cars struggled for grip on a wet track with dry setups.  I climbed back up to 11th. But inevitably, the downfall resulted in a car sliding into the gravel and an extended period for the safety car. 

But then a battle with another driver meant I was forced out wide and onto the gravel; again it meant a further loss of three places, finishing in 14th position.

A fastest lap but a broken drive shaft ends my race

Now into my third season of racing with AB Motorsport, I’ve been fortunate not to suffer any mechanical problems during my races. AB Motorsport have done a great job of setting the car up for the track and ensuring that it runs well from start to finish. Sadly, it was not to be in my second race at Donington this weekend.

I started back in 11th position on the grid. A decent (but not brilliant!) start, this time, meant that I held my position on the first lap and started to make progress through the field, moving up to ninth, and recording the fastest lap in the field.  But then with five minutes to go, a cloud of smoke meant the end of my race. A driveshaft failure left me at the side of the track and meant a disappointing end to the weekend.

The bright spot of the weekend… an extra Championship point for the fastest lap of the race.

View the Donington Park race

Two mentions for my bodywork sponsor, Car Magic, in the commentary!

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