Knockhill National Rounds 4, 5 & 6

16th May 2018

With a few days respite from the club round, I set my focus on the Nationals the following weekend. We had some more solid track time testing on the Thursday and Friday, it appeared evident that we had good pace.

Initially wet was forecast for the majority of the weekend, however come qualifying we found ourselves on a damp, but nearly dry track. After completing 3 laps I launched the car over the chicane, on landing the car veered right and I found myself beached on the grass. Therefore we would only qualify 17th out of 23 cars.

Bitterly disappointed with the result I was determined to come back stronger in the race, I knew I had the pace to be well up the field. In the past I’ve let situations like this pull me down, something I have learnt to convert into a strength in recent months going forward. I had a really great race to move up ten positions (more than any other car), finishing 7th.

Sunday, Race 2, starting 7th I set my sights on continuing to move forward. I had several battles throughout, but once again drove a solid race and gained some spots to finish 5th.

Race 3 and the reverse grid, having finished 5th in the previous race, we would start in 2nd on the front row. I made a good start, held second place and by the end of lap 1 found myself attacking for the lead. However as we came over the start finish straight we saw double waved yellows and the SC board, what we did not expect was over the brow, the safety car was parked. The field slowed, but a car behind crashed into the rear of me, both of us suffering major damage. Luckily everyone was okay. The race was eventually abandoned and rescheduled for the end of the day.

Finally take two of Race 3, I had a reasonably good restart on the opening lap, but dropped one place this time. We scrapped for the entire race over the first few positions, I held 3rd for two thirds of the race, but unfortunately I got boxed in at the hairpin which allowed another competitor to go around the outside of me. We eventually finished 4th, just off the podium but with a really good haul of points for the championship.

All in all, a very very positive weekend. This means we move up to 5th in the standings. Really looking forward to the next National Rounds at Brands Hatch in early June!

A huge thank you as always to @evin Mills, Greg my mechanic, Brad and James, for the great setup and all the hard work. Andddd of course Mum and Dad for making the long haul up to Scotland to come and support me trackside.