2000, Round 3, Brand's Hatch

Well, it has to be said this was one SERIOUSLY wet day. Qualifying was needless to say very slippery indeed, but it went well for me, slowly building up the speed, getting a feel for what could or could not be done before really pushing it for just the last two laps. I qualified 12th, and was well happy with that.

The race starts, still in awful weather. Keeping mist away from the screen seemeed the biggest issue as we left the assembly area, but when the lights went green, it soon became apparant that spray would be much more of a problem. The first corner was total carnage. I did not see how it started, but I saw two cars sideways on the exit of paddock hill bend, and they then came across the track, and everyone tried to avoid them. The car to my left took a sharp right off the track, so to avoid hitting him, I had to follow suit, and found myself trying to climb Hailwood hill on the wet grass. I lost approximately 12-15 places, but it wouldn't matter as the race was red flagged to recover the damaged cars.

At the restart, I was away well, and ducked to the inside, and we all made it through the first bend. By the end of lap 2 I was in 10th place, but I lost out to Andy Elliot along the pit straight, but then gained 4 places on the exit of paddock hill bend as one car went into the tyres to the right, one car rolled several times through the gravel to the left, and Andy slowed to avoid another car that had been slowed by his antics, and I passed them both. Again, a red flag made all of this irrelevant.

The final restart was at the end of the day, and it was slightly less wet. It was also a re-organised grid (I think based on the order at the end of lap 2 of the last aborted start) This put me 9th (as I had been 10th at the end of lap 2, and Phil Waite had been disqualified from ahead of me), unfortunately I could see the rainbow markings of oil on the 9th grid slot, and would probably have made a better start from 12th. I lost several places at the start, but once we were settled, it remained pretty static until I was passed by a Peugeot that I had been trying to fend off for several laps. In turn, he passed the car in front of me, but they both slowed through clearways on the penultimate lap as they got it sideways, and I retook one place by braking slightly later round the outside of paddock hill bend. I finished 11th, in a race which was won by Steve Powlesland in a welcome return to form. This takes me to 5th overall in the championship, which is excellent!

The damage I picked up when the trailer came detached from the car (before even leaving the paddock) will have to be fixed before the next race, but will not represent a problem. The power problems I had in the previous race seem to have been fixed already.