Oulton Park: 27th March

After a difficult start to the weekend with mechanical issues on the test day, Ian's first dry laps of the season were in qualifying on the Saturday Morning. Due to his limited running on the Fridat test, Ian opted to use old tyres for qualifying, this probably cost Ian the chance at going for pole position but a front row start just 0.3 seconds shy of pole position would do nicely. Ian commented "We're still struggling a little with the setup, we'll make some changes for the race and fit some new tyres".

Ian made an excellent start and almost took the lead into the first corner but in the end had to concede to the pole position man, Tom Pope. Ian then made anoter lunge at the bottom of Cascades corner on the first lap but was too far back to make the pass. Ian and Pope quickly pulled away from the rest of the field and by lap 3 they were almost 3 seconds clear.

By lap 4 Ian was right on Pope's gearbox and on lap 5 Ian made his move into Lodge corner at the end of the lap. Ian then got his head down and reeled off a succession of fastest laps, culminating in a new lap record and a 6 second lead by the flag.

Picture of Ian in car