The Donington Park circuit is always one I’ve enjoyed, and I was really excited to go back there for Round 2 of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship. It’s a track I’ve enjoyed success at in the past and one I was confident we could do well at this time around. Following on from the first round at Oulton Park two weeks prior, the whole team were looking forward to a strong showing here too. It didn’t get off to the ideal start though in practice as I was only able to complete a handful of laps due to a mistake by my teammate Dean cost us substantial time in the pits. As a result, I was going into Qualifying with limited time to work on the car and my own driving. P3 in that case seemed like the best I could have reasonably done and Dean did a good lap too, and we would end up starting 5th for Race 1 and as Dean’s qualifying sorted the grid for race 2, 12th on the Grid for the 1 hour sprint race.

 

It was a case of what could’ve been on Sunday. A small fire in warm up meant we were unable to start the 2hr race on time and when the car was fixed, we were already over 20 laps down on the lead. However, I still gave it my all and quickly set fastest lap of the race and was lapping consistently quicker than the leaders but of course I was unable to improve on our position. I did my part of the race, and then I handed over to dean for the final 40 minutes. Dean’s pace was also strong, keeping up with the leading cars but it was still a massive shame to be denied the chance to fight for a good result in Race 1.

 

Race 2 would bring the mixed weather and with a track half wet half dry at the start, Dean made a bold call to start from the pitlane on slicks as opposed to our starting position on wets. As it turns out, slicks were the right call for the first stint as the track dried, but Dean had an unfortunate spin early into his stint and got stuck on the wet grass. Once Dean had been pushed back on the track, we were 4 laps off the lead. He continued to lap and got back up to a respectable speed, but the damage was already done. I jumped in and continued to do the best I could. My pace was really strong and when it started raining again, I was on average 2/3 seconds quicker than everyone else on track but I was unable to gain any positions in my part of the race bringing the car home safely to bring the disappointing weekend to a close.

 

It’s a bitter pill to swallow knowing how differently things could’ve gone, but as a team we’ll learn more from this weekend than any other and I can promise we’ll be fighting for wins and podiums at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time. From my own point of view, I know I drove really well all weekend and I’ll be sure to set the records straight next time out.

 

Finally, a massive thank you as always to my incredible sponsors, especially my main sponsors Cambridge & Counties Bank. Their support and guidance is so important to me in following my dream of racing at the very top level of the sport and thank you to all of my supporters and fans who spur me on to keep improving myself. We’ll get that win soon.