Kernow Sport Round 7 Report - Canada

A very bumpy Montreal circuit greeted us this week. As well as grid penalties for both drivers and the sad news that a time-added penalty for Bart's amazing Monaco drive meant he was stripped of what was a well-deserved podium and demoted to 7th. He would also take a Back-of-Grid penalty here (allowing him to start on an alternate strategy), and Dan still had a 5-places penalty to serve. They would line-up on the grid 11th for Dan & 23rd for Bart.

TM Wicks: "The race start was to be in wet conditions. And despite the amount of rain and wetness of the track dry tyres remained the faster and preferred choice. Mid race as the rain increased and many drivers were spinning (the attrition and retirement rate was high, drivers were making many errors); some opted to switch to Inters or Wets (such as Dan) but after a few laps realised this was still slower and all reverted back to running on slicks.

Dan made a steady climb into the top half-dozen before dropping back with two stops in several laps as he tried out the Wets. After that he had to fight his way back up again into 5th by the end, though he had Kappet in his cross-hairs on the final lap: perhaps another lap and he could have got him. This 5th place is now our best result of the season.

Bart, having started from the rear, was also making a great climb up the order in the tricky weather conditions. But things started to unravel for him when he arrived on the scene of the Baldi-Geier spins and just couldn't avoid making contact with one of them. This led to a series of mid-race pitstops for damage, spinning, speeding-in-pitlane penalty and with regular pitstops meant he dropped to the lower points positions after having been running in the same region as Dan. Other retirements eventually helped Bart rise back up to 9th.

18 more points (and a new team record for most scored in one race) are a good haul despite the unfortunate incidents and tough conditions. Climbing another place in the Teams Championship is also great. With Midnight's withdrawal hopefully we can soon overhaul them and crack into the top-6."

#12 De Vos (9th): "The highs of Monte Carlo quickly became a low after receiving a 20s penalty for unsafe pit exit, and a BOG-penalty. We would have to make up for it in Montreal, a circuit that stands out for its chicanes and bumps. A lot of preparation went into finding alternative strategies for starting at the back and adjusting the suspension to make the car balanced over the bumps. Combined with a well-developed chassis we had a very competitive package. Q didn't matter, but seeing other lap times 3rd or higher seemed very possible. Then a big cloud of rain struck Montreal right during warm-up, something no one was prepared for. I was able to make some progress, about half-race I wasn't too far from the podium positions. Then came a moment I had to avoid a spinning Nordsjoen and crashed doing so. It all went downhill from there. Damage meant I had to pit immediately. But the car still had damage, causing the rear to lock even more than normal. I had further crashes joining and exiting the pit-lane, crashed into the wall of champions and lost a FW, then sped in the pit-lane but kept going and that was the right thing to do. Finished 9th; very disappointed with this race because I made so many mistakes. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out for us, with Midnight, our power unit supplier, closing its doors prior to this race. Silverstone next, where Sven will drive the #12."

#83 Brewer (5th): "Quite pleased with the result today really. My pace going into the race appeared relatively poor but qualifying suggested otherwise. The 5 place grid penalty cost me a little, however my own mistake destroyed my race as I came in for wets, only to find the wets are useless and came back in the next lap for slicks again. This cut my first stint short meaning I had to preserve tyres for the remainder of the race, as well as costing me 15 or so seconds with the extra stop. Pleased to get back to p5 and so nearly p4. Best result of the season for Kernow going into my home Grand Prix and in theory the best track of the year for me personally."

Points: 70
Position: 7th