I think it’s harder to lead a race like that than chase someone down as you have no-one in front of you and no marker – you have to set the pace. When you are running second, you know that if you cars are pretty equal, the leader will brake in front of you and you might be able to brake a metre later and make a move. It’s easier to keep in the tow, especially at a circuit like
Snetterton with two long straights, and it is nice to sit back and let them do the hard work, wear their tyres out and then make a move at the end. It was something I was aware of all the time and I was trying to back the pack up in the slow bits and then get away in the fast parts of the lap so they couldn’t stay in my slipstream. It was a race that needed me to think a lot.
Of course, the season wasn’t all about the highs, and the biggest disappointment for me was my 'small slip-up' in qualifying at
Oulton Park. I think it was only three or four laps in when I had a pretty big off at Cascades and put the car in the wall, although fortunately there wasn’t too much damage done. However, it put us out of qualifying and left me down in 19th place on the grid. There were decisions that went against us during the year, like at
Knockhill, but that mistake hurt me the most and I really punished myself most for that. It was a difficult weekend all round but one I can’t really remember that well as I’ve blocked it out of my mind now!
As you all know by now, I won’t be racing with Team RAC again next season as we have decided to go our separate ways. I don’t quite know what the list of options is for me at the moment but I want to be in the BTCC again and I am pretty sure that is where I will be. I enjoyed the season I had immensely and it has been the realisation of a dream for me. As soon as I started testing the car it was a case of 'right, lets step up my goals for the year ahead' and I achieved the goals I set myself. I wanted a podium in the first half of the year and a win in the second half and I got that, so I think we just need to get sorted out, reassess the goals, and have another crack at it.
