Much anticipated Round 1 which would be hosted at Oulton Park which is actually a track I enjoy. I had booked the Thursday and Friday on the race weekend to gain some practice before qualifying on the Saturday.
Qualifying this was my first attempt at qualifying in the Mini this would be a lot different to the Ginetta which I have been used to. The 20 minutes commenced and I was very consistently in the top 4 until 3 minutes from the end when the track became faster and I did not, until my last lap of which in the first sector alone I was 3 tenths of a second up which even if the rest of the lap I hadn’t improved would have put me 4th but due to another driver causing a road block I didn’t improve my time and dropped to P9. But still this was an impressive time due to the fact if was my first ever qualifying in the new Mini Challenge car.
Race 1 I started off P9 which off the start I dropped a couple of places due to the fact I didn’t get a good start because I hadn’t ever experienced a FWD start before. After lots of battling and late moves I managed to come up to P5 and gained first rookie podium in my first ever race in the Mini ! this was a big achievement.
Race 2 due to the reverse grid I started P2 and after a much better start I kept my position and after a solid few laps keeping my P2 I excited the chicane and then suddenly the car shut down… this was absolutely devastating as I was in second in only my second race out of 30+ cars, I was then sidelined thinking what could have been. This only shows the fight I am bringing this year and at only my first race is promising and gives me confidence for the races to come.