Brands Hatch Indy Circuit
Perhaps I’m bias because it’s my local circuit, but racing at Brands Hatch on a sunny summers day is an absolute treat. Especially as I was lucky to have such great support from partners, family and friends over the weekend. On track we were racing the Mazda MX-5 SuperCup, plus the new BRSCC SuperSport Endurance, which was a two hour race with Alex Miller in his MX-5.
2022 BRSCC Mazda MX-5 SuperCup
Round 4
Qualifying was pretty interesting, with some light rain falling and a red flag break. I finished up sixth for race one and third for race two.
Race one was pretty tight and congested at the start, but I held position. On lap 5 I took advantage of some contact ahead and picked up a couple of positions to run fourth. Unfortunately that was as good as it got. I was on the receiving end of some contact (unfairly) and made a couple of bad decisions, slipping to an eventual 8th. It wasn’t my best drive, but on closer inspection afterwards the wheels were pointing the wrong directions, so I can’t be too hard on myself.
Race two was fantastic. With the car sorted I ran third, but rather than simply hanging on I felt great and was pushing Amos ahead. There was a red flag break and at the restart I jumped him to run second. Thereafter I was close to the leader Bysouth, but didn’t quite have the speed to challenge. Regardless, we were thrilled to score our best result in SuperCup; in the dry, on pace. This was also my fourth year in a row of scoring podiums at Brands Hatch in Mazda racing, so that was a nice achievement.
Race three was a ‘what could have been’ event. Starting sixth, I was straight into fourth. On lap five I moved past Rob Boston to third and was pushing Aiden Hills and Will Blackwell-Chambers in the lead. The car felt great and I thought I could win the race – or score another podium at least. It wasn’t to be however, as I had to check up mid-corner at Clearways, to which Boston put his nose in and hit the rear corner of my car. This put me eighth. I got back to fifth, but was boxed in on the last lap and ended up sixth. I did score my first fastest lap in SuperCup though, which I was happy with.
BRSCC SuperSport Endurance
Alongside the SuperCup fun, Alex and I raced this new event on the Sunday. It was similar to Club Enduro which we won last year, so we were looking forward to it. We had to deal with a tight timetable, multi class racing, traffic, pit-stop strategy and also the other lunatics out on circuit with us. We had fun though, and finished second in class – sixth overall. Not bad for the second slowest class in a field of 22 starters!
Overall, we all had a great weekend. I’d like to thank my commercial partners (several of whom were able to visit over the weekend) and of course my friends and family for coming. Oulton Park next, and I hope we can continue the momentum.
