Donington next up was a meeting where we were very fast in the dry and qualified fourth on the grid, only just over a tenth away from pole position. It was looking like being a very positive weekend for us. They had forecast rain, though, and on the Sunday morning that rain arrived. The rear wheel-drive in the wet is so unforgiving – if you get a slide at the back you have to come out of the throttle which means you come off the power and crucial time is lost. In the rain the front wheel-drive cars definitely have a big advantage over us; really it was just a question of trying to salvage as many points as we could from a wet weekend.
Snetterton after that could have been better in terms of results. In race three I was running in third, a little bit faster than Jason ahead with Fabrizio Giovanardi closing in on the pair of us. I went for a move down the outside at the end of the Revett Straight and got alongside Jason, but we made contact and from there we both lost places which was a shame. It was a bit unfortunate, but we still picked up points which at the end of the day was the main thing.
Brands Hatch wasn’t really the best of weekends for any of us. There was a lot of damage. Obviously when
Matt Neal collected the back of the car in race one that caused the main damage to the rear bumper and quarter panel. It bent the rear chassis leg round as well, so it was quite extensive.
We struggled as a result of that in race two. It required quite a lot of manpower to get the car put right again, which is thanks to Motorbase who sent two guys down to help us – without their help and that of Adam Jones’ family and Team RAC we wouldn’t have made the start of race two. A lot of people pulled together to help which was good to see.
