Brands Hatch GP

The previous race at Spa-Francochamp proved to be a positive weekend with Chris and the team being among the quickest on track. This pace was aimed to be carried to the next round at the famous Brands Hatch race circuit where the Grand Prix track was to hold the next round on the Speed series calendar.

Unfortunately during Friday practice, the number 6 Ligier JS49 which was piloted by Chris and Toby Newton had various technical issues which hindered the track time in the car and sub-sequentially making it more difficult to retain the pace from Spa. A comfort issue was found whilst testing whereby Chris and Toby both agreed to change the seat and its position. This issue was caused by an unavoidable growing spurt by the two teenage drivers (or just being fussy). Friday proved to be a difficult day with very little track time to test the car and the new seating position could only be tried and tested during qualifying on the Saturday.

Saturday 1^st August

The start of the 3 hour endurance race was becoming closer and closer, but before it lay the qualifying session. With the troubles that occurred on Friday, Chris and Toby were both instructed by team boss Dave Beecroft to use the qualifying session as a test to check the car for any further issues and to find a good set-up for the following race. This was achieved by Chris and the team and the car ran trouble free through qualifying with a modest time of 1.30.677 was set which put the car 14^th on the grid. Chris stated, “The 3 hour race is going to be a long one and anything can happen. It was a sensible decision by Xero to check the car over and get a good set-up for the race rather than thrash the car during qualifying.”

Xero-Competition designated Toby to be behind the wheel at the start of the 3 hour race where he would stay until the pit-stop at the half-way mark. The condition of the track remained dry for the start of the race, although rain was expected after the half way point. A great start from 14^th on the grid saw the Xero-competition car climb up to 8^th place by the end of the second lap, later on dropping down to 9^th place. Chris was preparing to climb into the car earlier than expected due to the weather looking very threatening and at this point the Xero-competition made the decision to pit the car early due to the incoming rain. A new set of wet tyres accompanied Chris in the car. This pit-stop would run the car to the end of the race which required Chris to pilot the car for more than 100 minutes. A challenge he couldn’t wait to take on!

Chris exited the pits in 9^th place and soon encountered problems which would make the challenge much more difficult. He discovered that his radio earpieces had fallen out of his ears which meant completing the stint with no communication to the crew. The tyre choice in the pits looked the obvious choice to make and the next 30 minutes of rain proved that it was a great decision. Within the next few laps Chris climbed to 7^th and begun to chase the number 38 car which was piloted by Lee Atkins. A great battle with the number 38 car commenced for another 30 minutes which resulted in Chris and Lee Atkins passing and re-passing in the tricky conditions.

Whilst this battle commenced, the conditions on track were improving and the track was beginning to dry which troubled Chris’s performance running on wet tyres whilst some cars had remained on slicks. The team made the decision to keep Chris out until the chequered flag which put pressure on him preserving the tyres. He had slightly fallen away from the number 38 Juno and was struggling with the drying track conditions. With the team still opting to stop out, Chris drove multiple laps on a dry track and with only 15 minutes until the end, Chris prayed for rain in order to make up the lost time. That rain came, and within seconds the heavens opened and the Brands Hatch GP track soon turned into a lake. This was excellent for Xero-competitions strategy, but not so excellent for Chris’s visibility and that of other drivers. With ten minutes left and with cars off at every corner, the race was red-flagged. This hindered Chris’s chance to make up lost time but with cars spinning out at the final hurdle he finished the race in 6^th place.

We spoke to Chris after the race were he said “Finishing 6^th is a definite step up from a DNF like we had at Spa, but I was looking for more with the rain coming at the end but the red flag stopped that.”