Oulton Park Race Report

A first time racing at Oulton Park, and the best results yet since starting in the MX-5 SuperCup!

Unlike most of the races this year, this round took place over a single day and with only two races instead of the usual three.

Qualifying

Qualifying was a little lack-lustre. We've tested quite a lot at Oulton in the dry and based on testing times I should have been able to do a quite a bit better than I managed, which was for P10 for both the first and second races (out of 33 cars).

Not a bad result from qualy and actually one of the better results since starting in the SuperCup last year, but I definitely expected more and it's a little disappointing for what I was hoping to be one of my stronger rounds.

But it's still a strong place to start from, missing out on a lot of potential carnage from the mid-pack, and plenty of opportunity to move forward from P10!

Race 1

Whilst qualifying was in the dry, the first race most definitely was not. It had rained quite heavily leading up to the race, and although the rain had stopped the track was still very wet.

This was the first wet start this year so I was a little out of practice, but it was a good start and I gained ground on the cars ahead as we reached turn one.

A little bit of contact mid-corner was enough to lose some momentum and left me vulnerable to cars behind, losing a couple of places before we reached the braking zone for the next corner.

As the field spread out, I spent most of the race trying to keep the cars of Jack Brewer and Will Morris behind me. Jack eventually got past, and although Will had a bit more pace I managed to keep him behind me until the end of the race.

It was a bit of a lucky finish, as after the race we found out that the little bit of contact at the start of the race had bent the front wing into the tyre, leaving two deep gouges... it was very lucky we didn't end up with a puncture mid race!

Overall, started P10 and finished P11- an ok result with lots of fun defending throughout the race, but defending that meant the cars ahead were just able to pull away out of reach.

Race 2

The final race of the day saw me lining up P10 again, but this time in the dry. Another good start and like a replay of the first race, I got alongside the cars ahead before turn 1. Also like the first race, a little squeeze through turn one meant losing some momentum and I lost a couple of positions before turn two.

Despite being a thirty minute race, after the first couple of laps it all got a bit boring- I'd pulled out a big gap to the cars behind and was on the back of the lead pack, but didn't quite have the pace to challenge them and over the race distance they just steadily pulled away.

It meant quite a lonely race, and with a few cars ahead crashing or falling off the track, I ended up P9. The first top ten finish since starting racing in the SuperCup last year, so a welcome result even though the race itself was a bit dull!

Overall

Some solid results at one of my favourite race tracks- but a shame the race itself was a bit on the boring side!

Next up is Cadwell Park in August- a really fun track and one of my favourite rounds from last year!