Three finishes from three races – and my first trophy from Britcar – were the awards for the hard work of my Newbridge Motorsport team at a very warm Thruxton circuit this weekend. The coaching from David Hornsey immediately showed its worth as I set my fastest lap just three laps into my first qualifying session.

A big spin at Village – my fault as I was way off-line – led us to make an early tyre change so the car was on new Dunlop slicks for all three races. With my regular Class 4 rival Arjo Ghosh absent from illness, in theory I was on for class wins but as it turned out a guest driver was put into my class. He was quicker but as a series-registered driver, I get the privilege of taking home the trophy for three class wins.

Conditions were difficult – the temperature must have been around 25C and although I’ve raced in hotter weather (it was over 30C for the BRSCC Porsche round at Snetterton last season) I did struggle with the heat and was dehydrated after Race 2 and took a while to recover – a vital lesson for the 90-minute race at Oulton Park next month.

Video of my fastest lap – click to view on YouTube for better quality.

It would have been good to get within a second of team mate Guillaume Gruchet’s lap time from his endurance race here last season but I simply could not improve on the best that I’d set in qualifying – even with fresh tyres and the team (as usual) pushing me to go faster. Thruxton is always quoted as being the fastest circuit in the UK and you really need to experience it to feel how demanding it is on the driver – the car is on the edge far more than anywhere else as its basically a circuit of corners.

So our next race is on the slightly more familiar ground of Oulton Park in Derbyshire in three weeks time and will be even more demanding as the intention is to guest in the Britcar Endurance Championship and to drive all 90 minutes myself. I fully expect it to be the most physically and mentally demanding experience of my life.