August 22, 2016

 

The Cornish outfit take us through their Hungarian and Belgian rounds in their regular race-by-race reviews.

Coming into both races we had smaller upgrade packages. But we had managed (by Belguim) to max out the chassis mass development path. The car is currently 4th in the development standings, having just been passed by Nordsjoen.

TM Wicks: "Recent races had been successful but Hungary was a definite low-point for us. A late struggle to find a driver to fill the #12 car meant only the #83 took to the grid and we failed to maintain our 100% car start rate. It went downhill quickly for the #83 as well. By T2 Dan was put onto the grass when another car, avoiding someone else, swerved across into his path. Dan himself claimed a red mist fell after that and it led to another couple of mistakes in the following laps as he battled back. A DNF followed on Lap 4. It was our first non-points scoring race of the season.

Following the Hungarian disappointment we knew we had to come back stronger in Belguim. I ordered fresh engines for both cars, ensuring maximum possible bhp for the long straights. With Bart unavailable again Dan assisted in the signing of young Irishman Adam Maguire for the remainder of the season.

Adam took the #12 and qualified top-10 for his first race for us, just a couple of spots behind Dan. His start was good and he avoided the T1 mess to come out in 6th, which he held comfortably for a several laps until a small off dropped him a few spots. He pitted early as a result for Prime tyres and on Lap 12 was being attacked by the Green Stripes of Horrill into Eau Rouge. Contact was made mid-corner by the GSR and both cars were taken to the wall at high-speed and out of the race. It's always gutting to have a driver taken out (and to stomach the loss of good points), especially a young charger keen to impress on his Kernow debut who would surely have scored a top-8 without any more hiccups.

Dan's race had started by dropping to 9th, but going with a 3 stop strategy and using the Primes on stint 2, he held good pace on those tyres and ran race leaders pace when switching back to Options mid-distance. He kept out of trouble and had a couple of fights with Klumbis. Some good defending and a clean race, with a good strategy saw him keep climbing, eventually to 4th for a cracking result and 13 more much needed points, putting us back in 5th, and moving himself into the top-10 of the drivers standings for the first time.

We now enter the month long summer break. A welcome rest period for the drivers and crew. This season so far has gone so much better then expected originally. We still have aims and beliefs that more podiums are possible: as is achieving the 200 point target and 5th place in the championship, where we currently sit, in a tight battle with Woods. Our current points total of 125 is equal to the teams previous best (set in 2013), so barring repeat disasters we should surpass that and accomplish our most successful season ever, right off the back of our most disappointing. What an amazing turnaround that is by the squad!"

Points:125
Position: 5th