| Ginetta G50 - Donington Park |
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Final 2008 Round at Donington Park
Donington Park The 2008 Ginetta G50 Championship was almost complete with just two races left at Donington Park. Mixed weather was forecasted to arrive on both race days which made it tricky to predict setup choices. Chris had competed at Donington Park in the 2007 Ginetta Junior Championship and had tested the Ginetta G50 there earlier in the year.The track for Saturday morning qualifying was very wet which made the conditions tricky due to the rubber that had been laid down the day before. Chris qualified 5th, which was a positive start for both races but the data showed that on the last lap he slid wide in the middle sector which cost him a time to put him on pole.
Race 1 The wet track showed the sensible option of wet tyres being used for race 1 but the hesitation of rain and the drying wind meant that the track could dry up very quickly. Most of the teams and competitors opted for wet tyres to be used and a few went for the gamble of dry tyres hoping for the track to dry out.The race began with Chris lining up in 5th place. He took full advantage of the controversial first corner dash as Nigel Moore spun towards the pack. Chris arrived at craner curves in 2nd place behind Christian Dick and begun to pursue him down. He chased him down and ran in 2nd place for three quarters of the race with a great battle resulting in a few door-to-door moments. Throughout the race the rain hadn't persisted and the track had a certain dry line forming. This harmed Chris as he struggled on the fully wet tyres, his times begun to slip away and he slowly dropped down the order in the last quarter of the race. This resulted in Chris finishing 5th. He later added “The race was a positive one as it showed my pace, but it was also disappointing as I couldn’t find a way past Christian which caused me to waste valuable time battling. If I managed to pass I could have made a break, which could have been enough to win it.”Chris’s manager Dave Beacroft added “Chris drove a brilliant race and made the most of the conditions, it was just such a shame that the track dried at the rate it did. It showed that Chris is very competitive even from the small amount of testing and race experience that he has in the Ginetta G50.”
Race 2 After a positive race 1, race 2 did not go quite as planned. Chris got a good start from 7th place on the grid and was involved with the battle of 5th, 6th and 7th. The field arrived at the famous Old Hall Hairpin for the second time and Chris found a spinning car of Chris Dittmann in front of him. He avoided the car but ran out of road and found himself on the wet grass. Chris then slid back onto the track and unfortunately had a coming together with another car which caused damage to the steering. Chris nursed the car back to the pits, but race 2 went no further due to the damage.“I just about avoided the spinning car and thought I had got away with it, but the wet grass proved to be slippy and I ran out of talent as the car got away from me. As I came across the track another car collected me and caused me to retire.”
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