The Season Finale took place on the weekend of the 9th October at Cadwell Park. A very busy weekend with prctice, 2 heats and 2 finals all in one day, and challenging conditions to contend with too.
As usual, qualifying would well would be the key to unlocking some good results during the day, and with a very wet track we took to the circuit from Assembly, tentaively testing where the grip levels were. We were well prepared this time for the conditions, not hampered by the brake issues we had experienced at Cadwell previously (the only time in 2 seasons we have had a reliability issue), so with settings in place for wet running, I was hoping for some good times. The fastest 7 cars would go through to Final 1, with the remaining cars battling it out in a heat for the other 21 places that would be up for grabs. Second fastest lap times would count in the same manner towards Final #2.
Despite wanting a top10 qualifying position, I was quite surprised given my lack of wet weather experience to qualify for 9th overall for both finals, meaning I would start from 2nd place in both heats – my first time on the front row of a grid and a good chance for a podium.
Heat #1 – Lined up on the grid on the front row alongside Lewis Dallas and as the lights went out I had a very good start, short shifting to 2nd to reduce the wheelspin and by the time we had passed the cafe for the first time, I was in the lead and building a small gap to 2nd place. Needless to say it wasn’t long before I was caught and a great battle followed before a red flag finished the race whilst I was battling for the lead with Nick Morley. Unfortunately due to the countback rule, this meant the positions only counted as we passed the finish line at the start of the whole previous lap, and that meant almost 2 laps previously, when I had been in 4th. Gutted not to take a podium, but great racing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dubHJo0jUIo
Final #1 – With the 4th place in the heat, 11th would be my starting position in the final. Again, another good start and another great race, finally finishing in 10th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QARhJvlc2mU
Heat #2 – Again, starting from 2nd on the grid and another chance for that elusive podium. Things began well with another excellent start, but Nick Morley was really on the pace and was soon into the lead as I fell back to 6th, battling all the way and eventually finishing in 4th again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCPz-nHo6nM
Final #2 – It was a case of Deja Vu as again I started the final from 11th, this time on a nice dry track asthe light levels faded at the end of the day. Another epic race, bringing the car home in 8th. Not the best finish of the year, but probably the best race weekend so far.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK5GJAo2DY8
Some photos from the weekend, courtesy of Michael Joshua Barrett
Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge.
