Last night I found out that we were running on the island circuit, so having never driven that configuration before, I was racking my brains to think about where the circuit must turn right for the hairpin. The exit I could remember from driving the full Shell Oils configuration, and watching the touring cars.I ended up going out for qualifying behind Richard Breland (81), and knowing he was local to the circuit (as well as running 3rd in the championship) used this to help make up for missing the test day. To my surprise, I kept up with Richard, with some give and take on various parts of the circuit. Richard quicker at Knickerbrook & Cascades, and myself faster at Old Hall & Druids. After lap 6, Richard pulled over to let me past, and I surprised my self by setting my best time on lap 8, and qualifying 5th.
Race time, and yet again, I suffered with a poor start off the mark. Something I really need to work on if I'm going to race MX5's next year! Matthew Robinson was in front of me by turn 1, and I spend the next lap trying to get back past, having more speed, but lacking the room to get past. Near the end of the second lap I managed to get level with Matthew, and drove around the outside of him at Lodge, getting me back into 5th place.
You can see my first few laps from Richard's video footage:
Oulton Park MaX 5 from Fraser White on Vimeo.
The car was working well, and I slowly manage to catch the lead pack, and then pass Joachim Ritter on lap 5 out of the hairpin. Unfortunately, Joachim managed to get past on the following lap, but then ran out of fuel putting me back into 4th!At the end of the race I was in touch with the lead pack, finishing just ~2.5 seconds behind the winner, and one of my most enjoyable races of 2008.
