Anglesey Race Report: Final Round of the British Championship
Qualifying – P8
Qualifying was a very scrappy session on my behalf as I couldn’t find any space out on track meaning all of my qualifying laps were compromised hence the low starting position. This was also my first visit down to Anglesey and as the majority of testing had been in the wet it also meant I was trying to learn the circuit and its unique characteristics during qualifying in the dry which was far from ideal. Despite the disappointing start to the weekend I was confident that given a clear track we had the pace to run with the front group and I was eager to show this in Race 1.
Race 1 – P4
The opening lap of Race 1 was great for me as I worked my way up to P6 around the outside of turn 3 and soon closed back up to the leading group. At the start of lap 2 I forced the car in front into a mistake and managed to secure the position around the outside into turn 2. By this point in the race I knew I had the car underneath me to continue progressing up the order as I quickly closed up to P4 a lap later. From the previous lap I had noticed I was much better on the brakes into the International loop hairpin and knew this was my best opportunity to make a pass for P4. On the run down to the hairpin the car in front defended the inside line, this forced me to the outside as we approached the corner, I braked as late as I possibly could and held on around the outside to take the position. Over the next few laps the gap to the cars in front was decreasing and I was comfortably pulling away from the group behind but ultimately ran out of laps to make any more progress up the order.
Race 2 – P6
Race 2 took place on Sunday morning in the pouring rain, during testing I had been exceptionally quick in the wet so I was confident going into race 2 that I could make further progress up the grid and challenge for a podium. However this wasn’t the case, after a poor start to the race I had to fight back up the grid to P4 and never felt comfortable with the car for the duration of the race. Ultimately I slid back to P6 at the chequered flag and felt disappointed in how the race had panned out considering the pace I had during the wet testing on Friday.
Race 3 – P5
The reverse grid draw put me P3 on the grid for the final race of the championship. My opening lap was pretty perfect as I climbed up to P2 at the International loop hairpin and set about catching the leader. The gap was slightly decreasing with every lap until I began to battle with the cars behind, this meant i couldn’t focus on catching the leader and had to start defending my 2nd position, I dropped to P3 on the run up to turn 4 and a lap later made a slight error into turn 2 which allowed the 2 cars behind to pass me down the inside as I slid wide. This ultimately cost me a podium in the final race of the year which was disappointing but i was still relatively happy with a 5th place finish.
Massive thanks to everyone at Cliff Dempsey Racing for their hard work all weekend and all Year! Their hard work and help allowed me to finish 4th overall in the Championship which had exceeded my expectations considering the lack of experience i have compared to the majority of the grid.
Up next is the Formula Ford Festival at the end of October.