Following our high flying recent successes, this was not the best of weekends for Ash & Mike. It happens at all levels of racing, just look at Lewis Hamiltons weekend! True to form, Saturday practice was as expected, with mixed weather and Sunday was a combination of wet and dry making tyre choice difficult and setting Ash a new experience at PFI of a different set up for each session.
It was a good meeting to get out of the system otherwise the first Stars round could have been a disaster. Unfortunately Brendan Hand had to fly off to Dubai on business Saturday evening, and Ash really missed his dad's presence on Sunday. The first heat went to plan, but during the rest of the day the conditions made it difficult for Ash to gain a consistent rhythem. Considering he has only been driving a year, this is bound to happen and in Mikes experience, the key is to sit back and learn from it and focus on getting it right next time.
Most of the top drivers were absent doing Super 1 at Shenington, so Ash was a little dissapointed to just gain a 7th place for the final in the circumstances. Being so far back, the aim was to go out on a greasy track on wet tyres and grab a lead while the track was wet and the clouds were still gathered over head ready to unload. Unfortunately Ash got bogged down at the start and then the track dried, so he was understandably getting left behind. Mike rightly pulled Ash in before the end as there was nothing to be gained from staying out there any longer. Another time and it would have been a winning strategy but better to experiment now rather than at the next meeting when the anti is much higher.
Mike said "Glitches like this happen as you are developing a driver. I had a few in my time racing with Maranello and ARC, so I know that Ash needs to listen to the experienced advice from the team and put this weekend behind him. Ash can focus on the good points we have achieved over the past month and have total confidence in himself for Stars in a couple of weeks. Ash can get back to form and as his mechanic and driving coach, I know Ultimate will do all they can to support his development."
It was a good meeting to get out of the system otherwise the first Stars round could have been a disaster. Unfortunately Brendan Hand had to fly off to Dubai on business Saturday evening, and Ash really missed his dad's presence on Sunday. The first heat went to plan, but during the rest of the day the conditions made it difficult for Ash to gain a consistent rhythem. Considering he has only been driving a year, this is bound to happen and in Mikes experience, the key is to sit back and learn from it and focus on getting it right next time.
Most of the top drivers were absent doing Super 1 at Shenington, so Ash was a little dissapointed to just gain a 7th place for the final in the circumstances. Being so far back, the aim was to go out on a greasy track on wet tyres and grab a lead while the track was wet and the clouds were still gathered over head ready to unload. Unfortunately Ash got bogged down at the start and then the track dried, so he was understandably getting left behind. Mike rightly pulled Ash in before the end as there was nothing to be gained from staying out there any longer. Another time and it would have been a winning strategy but better to experiment now rather than at the next meeting when the anti is much higher.
Mike said "Glitches like this happen as you are developing a driver. I had a few in my time racing with Maranello and ARC, so I know that Ash needs to listen to the experienced advice from the team and put this weekend behind him. Ash can focus on the good points we have achieved over the past month and have total confidence in himself for Stars in a couple of weeks. Ash can get back to form and as his mechanic and driving coach, I know Ultimate will do all they can to support his development."
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