Silverstone April 2011 Rounds 1&2
Silverstone 17/04/2011 Report
After much anticipation and excitement, the 2011 MINI Challenge got underway this weekend with rounds 1 & 2 at Silverstone in Northamptonshire. OX4 Racing has been working hard over the last few months to build a new R56 Challenge car to compete in the 2011 season.
After a few last minute technical problems from Friday practice, the fight was on to get the car ready for qualifying at 9am Saturday morning. However these problems were overcome and the car took to the track for qualifying. Having only completed one test session previously, the driver James Loukes was still getting to grips with the new car, but managed to qualify in an impressive 9th place.
After qualifying the car was cleaned and prepared for the first race at 12pm. The race began with OX4 in 9th position, but after the first lap had lost two places. The next lap James brought the car into the pits, complaining of a lack of turbo boost. The team looked at the turbo but were unable to fix it so had to retire from the race.
With the second race due to begin at 4pm, the team stripped the car down, located the issue with the turbo and fixed it just in time. Due to the retirement from the first race, it meant James had to start from the back of the grid in 20th place. James pushed the car to the limit to battle through the slower cars up to 12th place. Having caught the quicker JCW class cars, James came up behind Andrew Bailey in another R56. James fought hard with Andrew, at one point even getting the car onto two wheels across the rumble strip! A bit more paint trading between the two saw James miss a gear on the final lap letting Andrew slip by into 11th place. James finished the race in 12th after a very solid performance from the back of the grid.
Overall, the team had a good weekend at Silverstone despite a DNF in the first race. It was a good chance for James and the team to learn about the car and hopefully develop it for the coming races. We hope to improve on our performance for Oulton Park on 14th May 2011.
The team owes a massive thanks to everyone who supported the event as well as our external sponsors.
