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13/07/08 - ROUNDS 10, 11&12: SNETTERTON After a 6 week break, the Seat Cupra Championship was set to make history by having 3 races on the Sunday in a similar style to the British Touring Car Championship. The reasoning for this situation was due to the cancellation of round 10 at Croft due to poor weather conditions. Therefore, three rounds were set to be held on Sunday at Snetterton making it a very busy day for the teams and drivers. Jamie had some experience of this circuit from testing prior the start of the championship so was really hoping to develop throughout practice. However, when it came to qualifying on Saturday, Jamie only managed 11th in both races. The grid for the third race was determined by qualifying at croft which meant Jamie would be starting 12th. The first race was action packed and eventually saw Jamie achieve his best result of the season so far. After a great start, Jamie got tangled up in an accident at the first corner. However, after recovering quickly and taking advantage of cars off the circuit at the following corner due to another incident, Jamie found himself running in 8th. After pushing hard, Jamie was able to pick up two more places passing David Nye and Daniel Welch to run 6th and set himself up for his best result this season. Jamie managed to finish race one in 6th despite a lot of pressure from Andrew Herron in the closing laps. After a competitive first race, Jamie was looking for another strong finish. Jamie got off the line well once again but got caught up in traffic later around the lap and found himself in 10th position. Jamie later had a suspension failure resulting in retirement. A frustrated Jamie was therefore desperate to have a good final race but again struggled with pace until having an off at Corham by carrying too much speed into the corner. Jamie then concentrated on putting in consistent laps as he found himself out of the contention. The last 6 laps of the race were within a tenth of each other so that was a success for Jamie despite crossing the line in 11th. Jamie's comments of the weekend contained mixed emotions, "The day started off well with a personal best result of 6th giving me a lot of confidence for the rest of the weekend. Then a DNF in race 2 took morale back down but I was still determined to do well in race 3 and get myself and the team back on a high. After a descent start, I started to push to hard braking too late into corners and dropping off from the pack in front. Then, I carried too much speed into Corham and dropped a wheel off the circuit sending me off onto the grass. My aim was now to set consistent laps for the rest of the race which I did successfully complete. My development this season has hit a limit and I need to find the next level. The only way I can do this is by getting more time in the car." Jamie will be trying to get out testing before Oulton Park, but with a busy calendar for himself and the team, the chances are glim.
Croft was another new circuit for Jamie, so once again he had a lot to learn on the Friday practice sessions. With mixed weather conditions of both rain and sunshine, Jamie struggled to get to grips with the circuit. Jamie was only able to manage 14th and 12th for race one and race two which was rather disappointing for the young driver from Kent. Due to the heavy rain on Sunday morning, the first Seat Cupra race was postponed for over an hour after the chaotic first touring car race which was packed full of incidents due to circuit flooding. Therefore, once the Seat Cupra Championship finally got out, the race was limited to 20 minutes. Also, the race was started under the safety car as the clerk of the course deemed it too dangerous to start normally. This made it almost impossible for Jamie to see as he was at the back of the field and had to navigate through the spray of thirteen other cars. Once the race got underway, Jamie made a mistake into the final complex of the first lap and spun. This mistake was costly and left Jamie far away from the field in front. There was a safety car later in the race due to an incident involving Daniel Rowsbottom which allowed Jamie to catch up with the field, but at the same time, the power steering pump failed giving Jamie no power steering making the car impossible to drive. Jamie managed to the wrestle the car to 13th place and finish the race. Due to the timetable being well behind due to weather, time ran out and it was not possible to hold race two. The action of cancelling round 10 overall or re-holding the race at another venue is still under debate and will be announced shortly. Meanwhile, there is a 6 week break until Snetterton where Jamie will be hoping to bounce back from another tough weekend.
Testing took place several weeks ago for Thruxton just after rounds 3 & 4 at Rockingham. However, this proved to be a larger problem for Jamie than most of the other more experienced drivers as he has to go out on the Saturday and be flat out on lap one for qualifying. As Thruxton is the fastest circuit in the United Kingdom with speeds of 140+MPH, Jamie was in the deep end as he was still learning at the end of the test day several weeks ago and didn't have a chance to find his feet before qualifying. Therefore, it was no surprise to see Jamie struggle in Qualifying 1 and 2 only managing 13th and 11th in race one and race two, respectively. Jamie had a strong first race after taking two places on the first lap lifting the driver from Bromley from 13th on the grid to 11th. However, due to a heavy accident involving Steve Mitchell, the safety car was brought out for several laps while the car and debris was recovered. Unfortunately for Jamie, he got caught out on the restart and found himself about 10 car lengths away from Freddy Nordstrum. However, as the race continued, Jamie started to settle into the race and began to catch the cars in front a little lap by lap. In the closing laps, Jamie managed to get himself on the back of the 4 car train. However, Jamie made a mistake around Goodwood by carrying in a little too much speed on the last lap losing several car lengths to Nordstrum. It now looked unlikely that Jamie would improve on his position, but a lock up by Nordstrum in the final chicane allowed Jamie to steal 10th place on the line. After an ever improving first race, Jamie was positive that he could move forward in the second race of the day. However, after Jamie went out on the green flag lap, he did not feel comfortable in the car as it felt "heavy and lazy" at the front producing under steer. Even though Jamie couldn't be overly competitive in the car as he was not totally comfortable with the car, he still managed to grab 8th within race two due to an action packed race containing many incidents. Jamie will be hoping he can get the pace back that he had at Donington for Croft in two weeks and keep improving on his Seat Cupra Championship campaign.
Strangely, practice took place on the Thursday for donington park instead of the usual Friday prior the race weekend. However, this was very convenient for Jamie as it tied in well with his first year exams schedule at Brunel University. Jamie had never seen the track until Thursday morning, so he had to learn the track as well as trying to get himself up the field within the two 55 minute sessions. The day turned out to be tough for Jamie only managing 11th in practice one while improving his lap time for session two only to finish 12th. However, the session was cut short for Jamie as he spun at the old hairpin flat spotting all four tyres. Jamie managed to qualify 9th in qualifying 1 on the Saturday morning where he dropped from 7th to 9th at the final stages where he had already completed his lap with others still running on a track getting faster and faster. Qualifying 2 was disappointing for Jamie as he got blocked on his first flying lap where his tyres were at their best giving Jamie no choice but to abort. After this, Jamie couldn't string together a perfect lap leaving him 8th at the end of the session. However, Dan Welch was later put to the back of the grid for being underweight promoting Jamie to 7th. Race one was a disaster for Jamie after the team making the wrong decision on changing the setup giving Jamie bags of under steer and a very lose car on the brakes. Jamie fault as hard as he could but dropped from 9th to 11th in the race sustaining light damage to the rear splitter after contact with David Green. Race two was a totally different storey as the car was back to normal on setup for the young driver from Kent. Jamie got a good start maintaining 7th off the grid and for the rest of the first lap. However, Jamie was overdriving the car trying to make up for the first race disappointments carrying too much speed into the corners scrubbing speed off at the exits or running out of track. Therefore, Jamie soon found himself back in 11th where he readjusted his driving style and started coming forward. Jamie had the pace of the top four and was the fastest man on the track at times fighting his way back to 7th catching 6th place Dan Rowsbottom. A good result at the end of the day after the disappointments of race one. Jamie commented; "I'm very happy with the result of the second race and I have no doubt that it was my strongest drive of the year to date. After the first race, the team needed a promising result and I think I have managed to deliver this. I'm looking forward to Thruxton as I reckon I have taken it up another level and should be a little higher up the grid for the next rounds."
Jamie will have a busy week approaching donington for rounds 5 & 6 of the Seat Leon Championship where he will be juggling his first year university exams along with the racing. Jamie will be taking an exam on the Wednesday, then driving to donington for the Thursdays practice and then returning back to university for another exam before returning for a weekend of racing. Jamie is at Brunel University studying Motorsport Engineering.
The second round of the Seat Leon Championship at Rockingham took place on the 12th/13th march containing mixed emotions for Jamie. Taking 9th in the first qualifying session and then achieving a person best of 7th in the second session, Jamie was confident of putting in a strong performance. Race one looked very promising for Jamie after a good start getting himself from 9th to 6th on the first lap. Jamie spent the majority of the race in 7th place until he suffered tyre wear problems resulting on a short off at the end of the straight from a lock up. Jamie dropped back to 10th but managed to fight back to 7th by the end of the 16 lap race. Jamie commented, "Poor tyre management hindered me in race one so I'm really looking forward to the second race where i can hopefully do a better job with the tyres." With a short down poor before race two, all the cars went out with slicks on a damp circuit which lead to a very slippery start. However, due to a power steering and brake balance problem, Jamie struggled only managing 12th in race two.
The first round of the Seat Leon Championship took off at Brands Hatch with testing on Friday where Jamie managed to achieve 4th on the time sheet in first practice while struggling the the second session finishing much lower down the order. Qualifying also turned out to be a troublesome day for the young driver only achieving 9th for race one and 13th for race two. Race one saw both the Total Control Racing cars struggle after making the wrong choice on tyres under unsure weather conditions leaving both cars running on a dry circuit with wet tyres. Therefore, Jamie struggled throughout the race searching for dampness where possible to keep tyres as cool as possible. However, Jamie was lucky to finish after missing Herron by inches after a collision with the barriers along coopers straight. By the end of the race, Jamie only managed 11th due to the wrong choice of tyre. Race two saw Jamie start from 11th and immediately move to 10th after a good start. With some close racing and two good moves a clearways, Jamie managed to fight his way to a respectable 9th place. Even though the weekend was tough, Jamie learned a lot and is looking forward to the next two rounds of the championship at Rockingham.
27/03/08 - JAMIE SET TO MAKE SEAT DEBUT Jamie will make his debut to the Seat Leon Championship this weekend with the season opener on the short indy circuit at brands hatch. After limited winter testing, Jamie is still confident of putting in a strong performance, even with his lack of experience. "The season is going to be tough as I'm still getting to grips with the Seat, so I know things will only get better and better as the season progresses. However, I'm looking forward to this weekend where I will learn a lot", Jamie comments. Jamie will be running with Total Control Racing who has just confirmed that reigning champion, Jonathon Adams will be racing alongside, giving Jamie support throughout his first season. |