|
|
|
Brands Hatch April 1st 2002 |
|
Brands
Hatch was to be the first venue for the 2002 season on the first
‘super’ weekend sharing with Touring Cars and F3’s.
Mike and I had returned from a successful test in Magny Cours and
we were both looking forward to driving my car in anger around the
sweeps of Brands’ GP circuit. It was going to be a very long weekend. Testing on Friday followed by free practice on Saturday followed by qualifying late on Sunday and the race early on Sunday morning! Fortunately the weather stayed clement which allowed us to dial the moderately revised Lister in for the new season.
Things went well on Friday and Saturday with Mike and I both posting times significantly below last year’s pole time. The main competition would again be coming from two sources but now in the guises of the TVR and the new Saleen. The latter was looking ominously quick and Mike and I knew we would have to on our mettle if we were going to continue where we left off last season. Further evidence of their speed emerged on Sunday as we went into our new qualifying format. Now reduced to just the one session Mike would take the honours to determine our place on the grid for the race on Monday. Looking at the data Mike thought he could do a high 1.22 (nearly 3 seconds faster than last year) but some of the understeer that had dogged us for the weekend prevented him from attaining that final fraction. The Saleen posted a low 1.23 and we would end up three tenths behind that taking the outside of the front row. We no longer have
to run smaller restrictors than everyone else now so I was confident of
not being ‘out dragged’ into the first corner.
I was therefore somewhat surprised to find myself in fourth
coming out of Druids. I
knew I was quicker than both the immediate cars ahead and also knew that
the Saleen was beginning to edge away. The Stealth slowed going onto the back straight so it was one down and I set about the TVR which did not look very comfortable through the faster corners. I waited a further lap and made sure I had a clear entry down the pit straight and went down his inside at Paddock. I immediately pulled away and set after the Saleen but although the gap stabilised at 14 seconds I made no significant headway. Still with a good pitstop I knew we could still fight for it. I stopped at the beginning of the pit window and Mike was on his way. Our chase was made easier as the safety car was scrambled and after the Saleen stopped we were on its tail. Unbeknownst to us however was the fact that Mike had made contact with a backmarker and was already suffering with his steering. Once we went green again he started to steadily drop back. Second
seemed to be on the cards until we suffered a drive shaft failure and
spent the last 4 laps in the pits.
Unbelievably we were still classified 3rd so at least
managed to rack up some points in the opening round.
Next stop Donington Park in two weeks……… |
