23rd & 24th September 2006
UK Formula Ford Championship rounds 15 & 16
Silverstone International

After testing on Friday in a constant downpour, qualifying and race one on Saturday were held on a dry Silverstone International circuit.

The grids for the races are decided on your two best times from qualifying, and my two almost identical times saw me line up 16th for race one and 14th for race two.

I didn’t make a good start in the first race, bogging down as I left the line. But a long safety car intervention early on saw the whole field bunched up again, and when it came in I enjoyed a good battle in the remaining seven laps, finishing 14th.

Tyre choice proved crucial in race two. Although it hadn’t rained for a few hours, the track didn’t seem to be drying very quickly so although most of the field, including me, went out on slicks, a couple of drivers chose wet tyres. Slicks were the correct choice – the track may have looked greasy but in fact it was almost completely dry. In contrast to the previous day’s race I got off the line really well. It ended up being quite a lonely race though as I was too cautious early on. By the end of the race my lap times were reasonable, but I had left myself with too much to do and finished 13th.

Overall it was another frustrating weekend. Silverstone is one of the tracks I know best, which I was hoping would work to my advantage, but although the data showed that the sector times were there, I couldn’t string together a complete lap. More positively though, I was the quickest Spirit all weekend.

I’m not doing Thruxton next weekend so I will next be out at Castle Combe the weekend after. Hopefully I can finish the season with a strong result at a track that I have done well at in the past – I won the T-Car scholarship there and also achieved my first podium finish.