On Wednesday evening easyJet will whisk me off to Malaga, for Round 6 of the Championship at Jerez in southern Spain. Exactly one week later easyJet will have the pleasure of my company again, this time to Faro, for the final round at Portimao in the Algarve. So it's worth a little round-up of how we stand ...
Two rounds of 7 left to go, I've scored 40 points so far with a nice consistent 8 points in each round. The final score is the best 6 results of the 7. The two guys that I am tied with on 40 points each have 'perfect' scores of 10 points from each of 4 rounds. With one score dropped, effectively they can score at each of the remaining rounds, whereas I can only add to my score at one of the remaining rounds. They are in the box seats to be honest, especially as they are both highly experienced racers, driving well-prepared cars - it is frankly unlikely that either of them will be beaten by anyone in their respective classes. John Delane runs his Lotus 18 in my class C2, and Andrew Tart runs the front-wheel-drive, front-engined Bond in class B2. Add into the mix that the grids, whilst well subscribed overall, are a bit short in both Classes C2 and B2, which will mean that full points aren't available for any of us, unless some others cars pitch up at the last minute! It's not surprising that grids are down a bit, it's a long season, and this will be an expensive far-flung jaunt, so a number of drivers have hung up their boots for the winter. But assuming I take a few points from either of the remaining rounds then I should be able to stay ahead of the guys behind us, so I am flying out aiming to secure third overall in the Championship; 2nd in my class in already secure.
Iain has re-prepped the car again after Goodwood, and he's just called from Portsmouth about to board the ferry for the long-drive to southern Spain. I'll meet him at the circuit on Thursday morning. He's got 6 cars in the truck and trailer, so he's going to have a busy time. He'll stay out after Jerez and just take the short drive to Portimao for the following weekend, I think a lot of the competitors will be staying out too, making the most of the autumn sunshine. Wish I could do the same but I need to come back to work in London, it's my busy season at work.
I used to go to University at Cordoba in Andalucia, just a couple of hours from the Jerez circuit, but I've never been there, and in fact I've never raced in Spain at all, and I love the region, so I'm really looking for to it. It's one of the modern breed of Formula One type circuit of course, whereas I prefer the older-style circuits, but it'll be good to race in Spain, and the forecast is for a temperature in the high 20s and bright sunshine, so that'll be a welcome change from foggy London.
It's a big meeting being run by Masters, http://www.circuitodejerez.com/index.php?id=29&no_cache=1&L=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=221&cHash=a728b9c687c95ade468d7fc86dc00e4f and http://www.themastersseries.com/news/item/5-news-jerez
If you want a last look at the championship table whilst I'm still at the top, look here! http://www.fia.com/championship/lurani-trophy-formula-junior-cars/2013/classifications I've printed it out as it looks now, will add it to the scrapbook for the grandchildren!
No comments:
Post a Comment