12th April 2018
I was really looking forward to the opening weekend at Brand Hatch, it’s been ages since the Winter Championships and Brands Hatch is my favourite circuit.
Friday was practice, but with new tyres we didn’t really figure in the timings but I was happy with how the car felt and I could familiarize myself with the track again so it was useful. The weather was dry too which was good, but I knew I had wet weather to come so would have been helpful to have one wet session.
Saturday was practice, qualifying and then the race at the end of the day. Practice was just scrubbing new tyres, so they were ready for qualifying. Qualifying went really well, I managed to post consistent lap times to end up P4 for both races.
The race itself was brilliant. I got a good start, and managed to maintain my position throughout the race, although for most of it I felt like I had to make my car the widest Ginetta in history as I was attacked by Luke Browning, but I was pleased to have defended well enough to finish 4th and 1st rookie.
The only way to describe Sunday was ‘wet’! I started P3 but I had a terrible start and was in P5 by Paddock Hill bend but managed to claw my way up to 4th. I hung off the coat tails of Luke Browning for a while but he was chasing Ruben Del Sarte and Adam Smalley, he had a small off and I briefly found myself back in 3rd and a chance at a podium but Luke was on a charge (and he finally won the race), and he passed me again on the start/finish straight and I ended up on my own for the remainder of the race to come home with a 4th place and again top rookie.
In my first full season I couldn’t really be happier with how the first weekend panned out, and I’m really looking forward to racing at Donington on 28/29 April.