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A View From The Driver's Seat: Donington Park - a step forward, but we are not getting carried away!

By Aiden Moffat / MJP Media | 23 April 2014

Aiden Moffat looks back at the Donington Park meeting which was affected by rain and other outside influences.

As I said in our preview last week, we headed to Donington Park with a definite plan to move forward, try and stay out of trouble and finish all three races. It seemed simple enough and we are happy with what we achieved despite the weather and being punted off by another car whilst minding our own business.

Free Practice 1 saw us complete 17 laps with a best of 1 minute 13.624 seconds which disappointingly left us in 28th place. We were trying various things and settings on the car as it felt like it was a little light on front end grip under breaking. I was very confident in the team and their ability, so I was looking forward to Free Practice 2.

Out on track the car immediately felt better and I was able to knock over 1¼ seconds off my time with a 1 minute 12.245 seconds. Qualifying soon arrived and out I went to see what we could do. Again we improved, allowing me to knock another chunk off my time to post a time of 1 minute 11.404 seconds. This moved us up to 24th for Race 1, bizarrely the same position I had finished at Brands Hatch.

Sunday morning dawned and I was disappointed to see that it was wet and as the rain continued through the morning, it became obvious it would be a wet first race. This left everyone, us included, unable to use any of the data from Saturday. The weather was so bad that we went out on wet weather tyres and no one got a lap time within 8 seconds of the qualifying pole position. In the end, Race 1 was more about looking after my tyres rather than making up places as I didn't want to throw it away. In the end I finished 22nd and was pretty comfortable with that.

Race 2 was again a wet race, but this time I was ready for it. By being careful early on and keeping out of trouble it left me the chance to make a few moves and we had our best race of the season so far. Whilst others were pushing too hard in the wrong places or getting involved in tangles, I was able to bring the car home in 16th place. This was a great result for me and the team and all of our sponsors and fans. We knew we had worked hard for it, but it is only one result and we still had Race 3 to come.

Race 3 was a bit of a shock - it was dry!! We lined up in 16th spot and off we went. I was hoping to be able to maintain my position early on and then see where we stood. Unfortunately this wasn't possible as on lap 1 I was hit by Warren Scott when he lost control of his Vauxhall Insignia, which pushed me way out onto the grass and I re-joined in last place. It was a real heart in the mouth moment and I was so proud of myself for saving it, but that ruined my race. I came home in 20th place, so not too bad.

All in all it was an interesting weekend. We were pleased with our performance overall and I learnt more about the car. I must also thank the hundreds of fans who came to see me on Sunday. I can't wait for Thruxton at the end of next week and look forward to seeing you all there.

Aiden #16

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