Chris Dittmann - Race Report - Oulton Park

Qualifying began at approximately 10.30am, with extremely difficult conditions, as the track was very damp and greasy. It started strongly with the car handling very well in the conditions and I could push the car early on and start building up to faster lap times. However, with a car crashed out at the druids corner, the session was red flagged for approximately 5-10 minutes while the car was towed back. While the track drying by the minute, I was able to get out of the pits first to get some clear laps completed before the final five or six laps. I was still learning the track lap by lap, so it was extremely difficult to push right to the limit. Therefore, I just concentrated on completing every lap, knowing the final laps would be the quickest as the track was drying. At the end of the session, I had qualified 13^th out of 35 cars, which I was very pleased with as it put me in a good position for the race.

The race began at 3.30 in the afternoon with the track dry, and the sun shining. I made a fantastic getaway from the start, passing four cars on the rundown into Old Hall. Four abreast into cascades took determination and confidence to come about in one piece and I managed to pick off a few more cars as I approached the Island hairpin. Things got very close, if not too close into the hairpin as the leaders tangled and drivers were making Kamikaze dives up the inside of each other. With extreme focus and composure, I had not noticed a small collision on the right front wheel with another driver. This, as I discovered after the race, had bent the right front track rod and made driving the car extremely difficult. However, I carried on in pure determination and after all the fighting on the first lap; I had made six places and were currently running in seventh position. I pushed as had as I could and by driving around the handling problem and I was able to just about stay with the pack of drivers in front of me with a five or six second gap behind me to the next driver. Unfortunately, on the exit of Old Hall on the ninth lap, the car rapidly snatched away from me and I ran onto the grass and was unable to continue. A poor result from such a strong performance but I found it very encouraging that I could run in a strong position, even with limited experience at the circuit and with extreme handling difficulties.