dbRacing - Donington Park Race Report 12th October 2002

Donington Park Race Report, October 12th 2002

Practice

The final round of the Classic Championship took place with a shared grid with Porsche Open cars. There was quite a lot of concern about mixing the two groups of drivers and cars with particular concern about some of the more gentleman Open drivers in cars with more power than the classic cars but not driven as close to the limit. This combines with the fact that the faster Open cars were 8-10 second a lap faster than the Classic cars meant there would be large speed differentials.

It had rained overnight and the track was damp, but drying as I left the pitlane. Initially I was getting good lap times but the tyres just did not seem to be working very well and I was some way short of the time I hoped I would be achieving. Having saved my double points joker card for this round I was looking for a similar performance to the meeting earlier in the season where I scored a third. This just wasn't to be and I just could not commit to get a good lap on the slippery track and as the session wore on the track came towards the 911's. I still qualified 5th which wasn't too bad and I therefore looked forward to the race and making some positions up in both the race and Championship.

Race

The grid was set up with the Open cars at the front and Classic cars behind with a one row gap. The idea was that the Open cars with their superior power should pull away and leave the front of the classic to have an open battle with final Championship positions still to be decided. I had grave concerns about this arrangement and unfortunately was proved correct. The track was still wet having had another shower, and as the lights turned green I pressed too hard with the right foot and ended up with enormous amounts of wheelspin but no forward motion. Meanwhile the 911's pulled away and I was almost hit by Colin Ingram who even managed to pass me from two rows back in another 924 GT.

By the time we got round to Craner Curves the lead guys of Carman and Brown were half way up the Open field and then Rod got nerfed by an Open car. Rod ended up going off the track and all the cars behind ended up almost coming to a full stop. That was it, race over as the first 5 Classic cars roared away into the distance while the remained of the Open / classic field sorted themselves out. I ended up making a few places up and battling with the 993 (yes really) of Henry Firman. My forward progress was ended at this point as he outdragged me in a straight line and baulked me in the corners. Meanwhile Tony Brown took the win to take the Class 1 honours for the season, with Graham Burke in his usual bridesmaid position as Rod Carman lost control in Craner trying to make a place on another Open car so he could get back in contention with Tony. Colin Broster had has best finish of the season in third place and went home with a huge smile on his face.

And me..... I finished in 7th place well short of my target for the day and failed to make further progress up the Championship leader board finishing just behind both Colin Broster and Ian White on points. The accident at Silverstone had certainly cost me dearly, not only for the points lost there but for the loss of suspension settings for the rest of the season. Interestingly Tony Brown had finished the mixed field in 8th place overall out of 32, nicely proving my concerns right about relative race speeds. With the change in the regulations for 2003 I certainly hope we do not have to share a grid again.