The start of the year has been busy, it all started back in March with the premiere of the ‘Road to Gymkhana Grid’ documentary and a few days of interviews surrounding it before I headed to Rockingham Motor Speedway for the first round of the British Drift Championship.
It was my debut in the ProAm class of the championship, I haven’t had much experience with competition drifting so I had set myself a goal to at least qualify in the Top 32. The weather wasn’t helping as it changed between wet and dry all day but I was pleased to get the line right by the end of the morning practice session.
In qualifying my first run gave me a score of 47.3, a safe run that I wanted to improve on in my second run. The track was dryer on this attempt so I left the line, accelerating hard down to the initiation. I threw the car in, running around the outside of the track before transitioning back around in front of the judges. This run was much better scoring 69 points and 13th position.
The afternoon battles saw me line up against Alistair Sutton in the Top 32, Alistair is a strong competitor so I wasn’t holding anything back as I left the start line on my lead run. I ran right on the qualifying line throughout my run which was praised by the judges but Alistair kept close proximity whilst chasing.
We swapped over and I struggled to put the power down off the start line in the damp conditions, I tried to close in on Alistair throughout my run but it wasn’t enough to win the battle. I was happy with my debut in the championship and I look forward to making it to a few more of their events this year.
The next event was the second round of the Fueltopia Barrel Sprint again at Rockingham Motor Speedway. It’s great to be back at a series that I have been so competitive at over the last few years, this year the competition are stronger than ever so I had my work cut out for me.
I took it easy in the practice session, only completing a few runs as the sun was making it uncomfortable to be in the car for too long. Once the setup was dialled in on the car I relaxed in the pit watching my competitors on their practice runs.
The times always get more competitive in the qualifying session but I was pleased to have ended the session in second place. In the battles I made it through into the final against Ryan Milton in his turbo charged MX-5. It was a close battle but he managed to beat me by a small margin, I was happy with second place another trophy for the ever growing collection!
The next day was the first round of the Formula G championship, I have won a couple of rounds in the past but never the championship so this year I’m going to be pushing hard to become the champion.
First thing in the morning I walked the track to learn both sides of the layout and get it right without needing to look back at the map. Once I have memorised the track I can focus on my line throughout the track in the practice session.
It was another hot day so I went easy on the car, resting after a couple of runs to let the car cool down before heading back out for a few more runs. I was feeling good ahead of the qualifying session but there were a few guys that were looking very quick.
My qualifying runs left me in 3rd place heading into the battles which soon saw me progress into the final. Ryan Milton was the competitor against me for the second time in two days. Our first run was neck and neck throughout most of the track with Ryan pulling a small lead at the end of the run.
We swapped sides and I gave it my all, determined to take the win. This time I was ahead early in the run and continued to pull away throughout the track, winning by enough to take the overall win and the championship lead.
It’s been a great start to the year and I hope to continue in the same form throughout the year, I can’t thank my sponsors enough for their support!