Croft - 25th & 26th July

The Universal Racing Services FF2000 moved to Croft in Teeside for rounds 7 and 8 with Ian desperate to get back to winning ways. Qualifying for race 1 went well for Ian, despite suffering from a lot of understeer Ian managed to secure pole position by almost 0.6 seconds. A few setup changes would be required before the race.

Despite being on pole, Ian was easily out dragged to the first corner by the second place man, Andy Huxtable. Ian slotted into second and set about trying to get back into the lead. With a better run through the complex, Ian drew alongside the leader, Huxtable, who outbroke himself running Ian wide and allowing Lawrence Denne past with Tom Pop alongside.

With Ian now severly on the back foot he was forced to take on Pope side by side and flat out through the Jim Clarke esses. This paid off and Ian kept hold of third position and closed back onto the leaders for the completion of an eventful lap one.

Ian set about applying pressure to Huxtable, with a lack of straight line speed and strong resistance from Huxtable, Ian tried a risky manoeuvre around the outside of the first corner. With both drivers giving each other reasonable, Ian came out in front and set off after Denne. Despite several attempts, Ian could not get by until lap 11. Once free, Ian set the fastest lap of the race and was nearly 3 seconds clear by the chequered flag.

Sunday was a different story however, with Ian making a calculated tyre choice in difficult weather conditions which resulted in 6th place on the grid. Ian commented "We were not on the fastest tyre but in the interest of not wrecking the wet tyres, I still think it was the correct decision - if it rains this afternoon, some people will really struggle."

It did not rain for the race but Ian made a good get away and was straight up into 4th on the 1st lap and challenging the leaders. Despite making a few attempts to get into 3rd place, it was clear Ian could do nothing about it as his lack of straight line speed had really worsened. Ian moved up into 2nd place when the leaders took each other out and started thinking about nursing the car home. The car had other plans though and kept getting slower until it finally stopped on the last lap with a coil failure. "I'm really disappointed" said Ian, "we could've come away with the championship lead today. But at least we have now found out what the problem is and I was not just imagining my lack of straight line speed - Roll on Pembrey!!"

Picture of Ian in car