Overnight the guys sorted it the car out after my off and we were ready to go on race day. I got a bit airborne in race two after touching James Thompson which was unfortunate, but I couldn’t avoid him and as the captain says, you keep your seatbelt on and keep going. We got a lucky ninth from that race, but the thing we have to remember is that it was only the second time that we have been out in the dry. In the last race, the fuel tank was hanging off after I took a jolt into the first corner and I had a massive vibration in the rear of the car but we kept it out there and got anther finish – and three finishes from the weekend was good for the whole team.
We admit that we are on still on our back heels a bit, but when you are at the back, there is only one way to go and we will keep working to move forward, The times are getting better and, while at the moment we are making up the numbers, I’m broad shouldered and I can put up with the critics. We’re adding a car to the grid and I know that we’ll get better and quicker towards the end of the year.
The second two races at Mondello Park are the first time that I can say that I’ve really enjoyed driving the car and, although I expected to be a bit quicker, I’m also enjoying being a touring car driver. I had a long chat with
Matt Neal and Jason Hughes over the weekend, I’m a big fan of Mike Jordan – I said last time that he’s a great guy – and they are all good guys. But I guess they all are until you get to the sharp end! The spectacle of the BTCC is magnificent, we need full grids and it’s a shame that the Alfa Romeo didn’t make it to Ireland but he has his problems, just like I’ve had some myself.
One of my problems is that we’re a little bit heavy. We are 35 kilos overweight at the moment with a H-pattern gearbox in the car, and if we could get a sequential box then we’d be more or less bang on the money. We’d only be 5kg over what we need to be – and I can get that off me if I don’t go to the pub!
