The second race saw me baulked by a back-marker and it had a big impact on my race. Going into Clearways, Erkut got inside me but I was faster than him around most of the circuit and I had him lined up before we got into traffic – and that spoiled the race for me really. I really felt hard done by, but I had a chat with the guy involved afterwards and got it all sorted. I was a back-marker myself last year, so it was nice to be doing the lapping rather than being lapped! None of us like being lapped, but it was different for me this time around and it was good to be out racing. The big difference is that I was earning things and not being gifted them – and I can tell you now that you have no idea how hard it is to say that, but it’s the truth. Last year, everything was gifted to me but now I am in a position to race people and overtake them.
Race three was good, although I made a mistake into Clearways again and went into the gravel which was a shame as I felt I could run with Matt Allison and the cars ahead. I was lining them up, not maybe to overtake them, but at least to run with them, when I made a mistake, Dave Pinkney passed me and Jason Hughes almost follow him but I got back ahead of Pinkney and Gordon Shedden must have had a problem as I was catching him up – although it was nice to be catching him! Towards the end, Jason and I had a good fight but I was determined that he wasn’t going to come past me.
The car was a completely different car to drive and that has to be attributed to Kelvin [Burt] and the work we did in Spain. He really got it working and to be honest, I had lost my way with it a little bit as we didn’t have the testing time or the testing budget last year. But with new sponsors on board and Kelvin on board, we can dial it in and really believe we can become regular contenders for a place in the top ten. My confidence is better, last year it was almost career finishing at times and not the best of years, but with the car as it is, we have a really good base setting and are looking for tenths of a second, not full seconds.
