After a long winter away from their beloved Aston Martin GT4 it was finally time for Chris and Mika to put the overalls back on, cram the headphones into their ears and pull the helmet on before heading out onto a circuit they had mixed experience with – Donnington Park. In 2015 Chris had managed to get to grips with the circuit in a 50-minute race, whereas Mika had done 3 laps total and probably would’ve posted a faster lap time cycling around the track.
To try and gain some experience Chris and Mika had a track session the day before the first round of racing. Driver Coach Michael Bentwood, who had coached the drivers previously, came along for the day to give both Chris and Mika some pointers and coach them up to hopefully get the best lap times possible out of our car. All was going well until late in the afternoon when a plastic cable holder the size of a fingernail decided to break and leak fluid, causing the gear box to completely seize up and smoke to pump out the back of the car. After the car was taken back to the garage it was quickly decided no more testing would be done and we would have to see if we were able to race come Saturday.
Thankfully the car was all sorted for Saturdays racing after the team at 22GT Racing were up until 2am in the morning working on the car. The guys explained their winter had been distinctly quiet so they were happy to stay until the early hours, and not a single complaint or joke was made for about 5minutes which must be a new record. The mornings practice session gave Chris and Mika ample opportunity to get back up to speed, and it was Mika who managed to post the fastest lap time with a 1:15.610, good for p21 overall and p7 in class. Now it was time for the 20minute qualifying session for the afternoons two 25-minute sprint races. Mika went out first and did just five laps to warm the car up for Chris to hammer the lap and try to set a competitive time. Unfortunately, when Chris went out on his first lap the back of the car seized up for an unknown reason and sent him straight off at the old hairpin and into the gravel. Once again the car was taken back to the garage, and after seeing the extent of the damage it was clear that they would have to miss the first sprint race in the afternoon. Being the gentleman driver he is (and non-owner/bill-payer) Mika offered Chris the race, and being a Yorkshireman and not turning down something he is offered, Chris accepted and took to the back of the grid due to not racing earlier. A great 25 minutes ensued in which Chris managed to set a new personal best lap time of 1:15.935, good for p22 overall and p8 in class.
The conditions for Sunday weren’t as great as the Saturday after it rained pretty much all night and made the track distinctly damp in places. After a short warm up it was time for qualifying, and with no problems on the car Chris managed to post another personal best, this time putting in a 1:15.520 to put the duo p20 overall and p8 in class. The race on Sunday was a 50minute pit stop race where each driver shared 25minutes of the race, making it more of a team effort and putting the pit stop element into the race strategy. Chris took on the challenge of the first 25-minute stint and had a great battle with a fellow Aston Martin GT4 and Porsche Cayman GT4 for roughly 15 minutes, until he managed to put some time into both these cars and pull away slightly. After posting another personal best of 1:15.268 Chris handed over to Mika who ended up time trialling most of the race due to cars around him being too quick to stick with. In his stint Mika had a fastest lap time of 1:15.644, meaning Chris takes the 1-0 lead for fastest lap times this year! Thankfully the team finished the race in p16 and were just delighted to see the chequered flag.
The next round features at Brands Hatch on the 7th May.