Donington Park - 2nd July 

Another race and another co-driver to accompany me. Jamie C-W  was doing his FIA duties with Julian in Budapest so Tiff Needell was drafted in.  Now Tiff has a great deal of Lister experience although not in the GT2 car but he immediately felt at home in the limited testing we undertook.  We decided not to participate in the official test on the Thursday before the race.  The reason was simple  - if we were to have an “off” or any other major incident then we were “snookered” because the rest of the team were in Budapest!

So it was to be straight into qualifying (again!!).  We did not harbour aspirations of pole position although Tiff managed a good time in the “GT only” session which left us 5^th on the grid.  Only a second covered the first 5 cars including the GT2 ex—Larbre Porsche given a new lease of life with a restrictor uplift.  I posted a 1.36 (with lock-up) dodging the debris at the old Hairpin and contemplated the race ahead.

The weather forecast mentioned something about “thunderstorms” and “heavy downpours” and for once they would be spot on.  The other races had all been dry during the day but the heavens opened just before we were due to depart for the grid.  I really thought they would have to cancel as it was absolutely torrential.

It was not to be however and an hour later we ventured onto the track.  It was particularly bad at Redgate and Macleans and the race was going to start behind the safety car and run behind it for the first few laps until the racing line became less treacherous.

The safety car’s lights went off after 3 laps which signalled the race would be on next time round.  At Redgate I made up a place which I then lost at Macleans.  The other Marcos also nosed ahead of me but I retook it at the Melbourne Loop and began to ease away.  Not for long though because Neil came on the radio and said it was time to come in. I couldn’t believe it -  I hadn’t even built up a sweat.

Oh well … I dived into the pits where Tiff was eagerly waiting.  No problems with neutral today and after a pretty good stop, Tiff was off.  We were actually first to stop and after all the stops were completed we were first on the road,  Tiff entering Redgate just as the Lotus (which lead the first half of the race) exited the pits.

He then eased away from the Lotus which was in turn battling with the Viper and the TVR and we managed to notch up another win.  Thanks to the guys from Firstair for their help and Neil and Angus from Lister (the other guys deserting us to Spain and Budapest!) and of course Mr Needell for a great drive.  Next stop Croft where I am hopefully going to stay away from the curbs this time and try to record my first finish at the North Eastern Track.