1999, Round 8, Lydden Hill

On this occasion, only the top 18 qualifiers were going to get into the championship race, so it would be more important than ever how well qualifying went (I'd only been that high once before). Unfortunately I was to be in the third qualifying session, presumably due to missing the last round, and failing to finish at Pembrey. Either way, I figured it was likely that I may have to deal with much slower cars in my session. The qualifying was to be only 10 minutes long, and I had not driven this circuit before, but I decided that I had to try to get out in front to get a clear track if I was to stand any chance of qualifying well, so I was delighted to find that I got to the assembly area first and would be first on track.

The first two laps were fairly cautious, I did not want to make a mistake and leave the track, but I had to be fast enough to stay out in front of others behind who HAD been to this track before. Then it was pedal to the metal, and see what I can do. Despite being only ten minutes long, the session was long enough that I was already overtaking the slower cars by the end of it - did that mean the lap times were any good?

As I pulled into the pits after the session, I was immediately approached by someone who had been timing me, and was told I had managed a 52.5, which should be plenty good enough to be in the top race. I was delighted.

The race came, and knowing that there were only 18 in the race, and that it was 25 laps, my tactics were to take it very easy early on, and make CERTAIN of having no incidents. I knew that as long as I finished higher than last, I should be inside that elusive top 16. I made a good start, staying static in my position off the line, and into and out of the first right hand corner. The next bend was a left though, and I had a car on my left, so I left room for him rather than try anything daring, only three cars got through, so maybe I left too much room. By the end of the first lap, things had started to settle. On lap 2 up ahead I saw someone go into the tyres, so that was effectively one place gained. Right in front of me there was a good three way scrap that I started drawing closer to, to see if I could get a line through if they held each other up.

A few laps later, the car in front got totally sideways going into the first bend, and I had to take evasive action and run very wide. This meant two things, first, the guy who went sideways managed to recover still in front of me - although not as far in front as he had been, and the guy behind closed in on me. For the next several laps I was coming under increasing pressure from behind, and I had to frequently defend the line going into the hairpin in particular, which was letting my lap times slip, and those ahead were pulling away. Eventually, the pressure from behind lifted, as the guy behind got sideways under braking, and lost a lot of time. I passed a couple more cars by the end, some of which had problems and retired anyway, but I was not going to be able to make any real progress further up the race, as I was suffering from less and less grip as the race went on and my tyres got hotter and hotter. I knew that I had to be in a good position though, based on the number still running behind me, and the number I knew to have failed to finish. It felt good.

When the results came out, I discovered that I was not as high as I had thought. The organisers had decided to change the number of runners (which I am sure they are at liberty to do), but they didn't tell me, which was a bit annoying. My tactics being based on only 18 starters was a bit flawed as there were actually 21 out there. I managed 14th none the less, which I was still happy with, and which ultimately turned out to be 13th after one car got excluded for a technical infringement.

This was my first sponsored race, so it is fitting that it was the first time I finished in the top 16, but now I need to build on that, so look out Silverstone, here I come!