Well Scotland is certainly a place of changeable weather! Sunshine then torrenial rain in the blink of an eye!
Didn’t put the crowds off though as there were 40k + spectators each day so lots of support and a great atmosphere.
I’ve never visited Knockhill before not even as a test day so I had to learn the track quickly and when I say quickly I had 2 x 45min sessions both in the wet so not a great deal of time to get the car set up correctly.
Qualifying came at 9.30am Saturday morning with a dry track so another challenge with regards set up and also suffered a sticking throttle so finished qualifying 13th out of 22 drivers so not the best position for Race 1 and Knockhill is a very narrow tight circuit so not many opportunities to overtake.
Race 1 started on a dry track and I was caught up in the chaos of the first corner and a spin by another driver caused damage to my front bonnet and pushed me back to 17th.
2 laps in of the 20 lap race and the weather changed to torrential rain with everyone on slicks. This led to a very exciting race for spectators but a challenge for us drivers.
However I managed to make up 5 places and finished in 12th position in the end.
Race 2 starting 12th got a good start kept out of trouble but ended up stuck behind a slower driver and with only limited opportunity to make a move for position around the tight-and-twisty circuit and despite having the pace to match the top six runners, I crossed the line in the same place I started, later to fine I also had a leaky radiator which was causing the car to overeat and that I had been penalised for exceeding track limits and was demoted to 15th position.
I’d never been to Knockhill before and it’s a shame that the weather conditions meant I didn’t get any proper dry laps until the second race. The sticking throtle in qualifying meant I was lower down the grid than I should have been at a circuit where track position is vital.
Getting caught up in the melee at the start of race one made my job harder but it was so much fun to race on slicks when the rain started coming down and I was able to make up places. Race two was frustrating because I knew we had the pace to run with the front pack but was stuck behind drivers who were defending for their lives from lap one.
Overall though I’m happy with how quickly I got on the pace given though I had no experience of probably the trickiest circuit on the calendar.
So onto Donington last race of the season! The time has gone so fast! Donington is my favourite track on the calendar and hopefully we can end the season on a high!
As always a big thank you to the team, my family Lodestone Projects and Proceed Group for your continued support couldn’t do this without you guys!
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