OEKC Round 3 – Rye House
April 26th 2015
Before this race we had a good test day. We managed to get through a lot of things we needed to test and found some good results. As usual, we were quietly confident, especially as Rye House would be considered our home track.
Once race day came, our bad luck raised its head in the form of rain! This cancelled out everything we had tested so we simply reverted back to a wet setup we already knew. Practice was ok and the kart felt good. We scrubbed in a new set of wet tyres and compared these with another used set. Some of our team partners came to spectate who enjoyed their day. (Theydons / Kore Consulting).
Qualifying started and we eventually finished pole position for the race. The track had started to dry out so we started the race with a dry setup which allowed us to capitalise on what we had learnt from our previous test. As the race started we promptly moved away from the rest of the pack along with two other teams. Eventually the three of us started to lap the rest of the field.
Unfortunately, towards the end of the first stint, a red flag was shown as there was a serious accident calling for the race to be suspended. Medical staff attended to the situation and once cleared the race was to get under way. A few teams including ourselves fell foul to what we consider ‘rules made up on the day’ of what is permitted under red flag rules. We were penalised for changing a battery and made to start last when the race restarted. The negated any advantage we had and effectively put our main competitors a lap ahead.
We got our heads down and with great speed and pit strategy, managed to win the race.
