Vader Trophy - Rouen

[Wednesday - 1st of June]

Track Map

As you already know, I have taken a (some say unhealthy) liking to the BRM. Due to this I decided to swap to the tank for Vader Trophy, as I could see myself having a lot more fun in it as opposed to the Cooper. An hour or two before the race I was consistently doing 2:00s so I was looking forward to the race.

I beat my old PB in qualifying with a 1:59.5 placing me 11th on the grid, a tenth of a second behind Jannis Koopman's Ferrari and over a second ahead of Jamie Mason's Cooper. My start was not exactly good seen as I spun off in the first corner, but I didn't collect anyone and I actually avoided the customary lap 1 wreck. By the end of lap one I was all the way up in 7th place, having passed several crashed/spun out cars. I drove steadily until lap 4 when Gav in his Cooper made a wee mess of his braking for Scierie, and we touched. I got going without getting passed, but I made a real mess of T1 and got passed by two Ferraris.

I didn't trust Gav with the inside for Scierie for the next lap (:P) so I moved over, barely keeping him behind. I run wide in T1 and Gav is alongside me, we go into T2 side by side and I exit just ahead of him but I also run wide. He goes for a run around the outside for the right hander, but unfortunately I squeezed him off the track. On lap 7 I catch Gui's (ridculously slow) Lotus into Gresil, and in my rush to get by I touch him and do a complete corkscrew, thus losing two places. I do a series of pirouettes in T1 on lap 9, but can keep my 11th position. I drive more or less all by myself from lap 7 to lap 15 when I pass my teammate Chris Kirk (Brabham) plus Gui after the last corner, and a flying Mark Egan after T1.

I cross the line just over a second ahead of Kirky, and eleven econds behind Ian Woolham. Finally I managed to finish a VT race and not feel disappointed with the result.