I hadn’t been back to the Cheshire venue since I raced there for my first time ever in March of last year, so it was always going to be a challenge to get back up to speed on this immensely challenging circuit. I missed the opportunity to practice at Brands, so I was very determined to get out on the day before our races to re-familiarise myself with this very “technical” circuit which in its full configuration features two chicanes and a hairpin, plus the legendary double-apex corner that is Druids.

Photo by Lightprism, on Flickr

Having done so for Brands – and achieved it – I again set a target but in this instance, although I did improve on last year, I didn’t reach it. Malcolm Edeson had coached me here in March of 2012 in Sean Cooper/Track Focused race Boxster (the only time Malcolm has been in a race Boxster with me) and we set a time of 2:07.70 – and by the end of the same month, I had come close to that in my first ever race.

Rather than posting videos from the races (one of which was curtailed significantly due to a long period of safety car interventions) here’s footage of my best lap from qualifying. As usual, click through to watch on YouTube at slightly higher quality.

The retirement of no less than 7 cars in Race 1, plus a disqualification due to a technical infringement, left me finishing 7th in class – my highest ever in this series – and gifting me with 16 Championship points. I wasn’t so lucky in Race 2 where, even with 4 other Class A Boxsters behind me on the grid, I had to be satisfied with 10th. Together I collected 29 points which has left me in 12th place in the Class A points table. Given I’m missing the two races we have at Cadwell park later this month, its likely I’ll drop down again, but we’re back at Donington for the final round of the 2013 season – a circuit I’m far more familiar with. Hopefully with the help of the guys at Newbridge Motorsport, I can make a significant improvement again and finish higher.