Snetterton race report

July 31 saw the team head to Snetterton for a very busy day of racing. The normal timetable is to have Qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday, and then Race 2 and 3 on Sunday. However, for the Snetterton race weekend both qualifying and all three races were packed into a single day, with little time to recover between races. Aside from being really hectic, it also meant it was extremely important to avoid damage because there was simply not enough time between races to fix anything.

Thankfully, there were no crashes, no contact, and I came away with my best race result to date! But overall, a bit of a bittersweet weekend.

Qualifying

Snetterton is a pretty technical track, and despite testing it was difficult to really find the pace to get into the top 20. I qualified 21st for Race 1, and 24th for Race 2, out of a total of 39 cars.

Race 1

Starting in P21, I got an average start off the line, but with some contact up front as cars all tried to squeeze into turn 1, I had to lift slightly to avoid join the carnage. Being on the inside, it meant I then just got squeezed all around T1 and had a terrible exit for the run down to T2. With another car then going for a dive bomb on the brakes into T2, and taking out my mirror, I then got squeezed all around the inside of T2 for another terrible exit.

All in all, it was a nightmare first lap and I just lost so many positions. The silver lining as once the first lap carnage was dealt with, I managed to have a decent race and claw my way back up to P22. Not the result I wanted, but it was a decent recovery.

Race 2

Starting in P24, but arguably in a better position than Race 1 as I was now on the outside for Turn 1. Like Race 1, the first lap was carnage and I was forced to drive off track to avoid other cars who had made contact. On the first lap, like Race 1, I dropped so many positions and thought I was in for another lack lustre race.

Luckily, around 10 minutes into the race, the rain started to come down.

I'm far from the fastest in the wet, but my pace relative to others in the wet seems a lot better than in the dry. Once it started to rain, it was just a case of putting in some solid laps, catching groups of battling cars and driving through them when they made mistakes or fell off the track.

Just a mix of finding grip in the wet, and ultimately, not making too many mistakes, meant I drove through from P24 when it started raining to P14 by the end of the race. Towards the end of the race I was catching another group of battling cars and had hopes of going for a top 10 finish, but the rain stopped, the track dried quickly and I couldn't match the pace of the cars in front.

Over all, a terrible start, but the best race result for me yet!

Race 3

A little uneventful. A bad start saw me drop a fair few positions, but then get stuck in and regain some throughout the race.

Conclusion

It was a really positive weekend, with some definite highs but also with some missed opportunities and definitely some moments to learn from. Next up is Cadwell Park!