The sun was shining as the team arrived at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire for the next round of the British Truck Racing Championship which was supported by the second of the popular Convoy Events – “Convoy on the Plain”
Saturday morning saw a change in weather conditions as the rain came in. This meant that the qualifying session would be a more challenging drive on the track which is known as the fastest in the UK! Despite the change in the weather the team still came away with a good result with Stuart P4 and Michael just behind with P5 which would set the starting positions on the grid for the first race of the day.
As in the earlier qualifying session the track was again damp for the first race of the weekend. Both drivers had a good start, especially Michael who took off rapidly pushing himself into 3rd position to the delight of the team and crowds. Unfortunately after taking a corner slightly too wide he dropped 3 places to 6th. He went onto lead the mid pack of trucks round the track and finished the race in 6th position.
Stuart, after his good start, had a slip on the grass which pushed him back slightly but of course that didn’t stop him! He began the attack to push himself back to the front. It was a close battle with the teams fighting hard to hold their positions and Stuart crossed the line in 5th place.
The second race of the day saw much drier weather and the grid was set by the second fastest time from qualifying which put both our driver's side by side on the second row of the grid. As the lights when green Stuart got to work straight away and positioned himself in second place for the entirety of the race. It wasn’t completely smooth sailing as he certainly had to do some very defensive driving to keep the position. His efforts paid off as he claimed that second place on the podium. Michael’s second race of the day saw him finish in 5th place overall, just slightly behind Stuart. He drove a steady, defensive race throughout, fending off the competition through the high paced turns at Thruxton.
Sunday morning saw the first of 3 races and the sun was back out! It was a reversed grid for this race with the top 8 from race 1 reversed. Again this saw both our drivers next to each other on row two. As expected as soon as the lights turned green Stuart began the chase to get himself to that first position. Thruxton is not the easiest of tracks to overtake on but his experience paid off and he got himself to the front claiming that first place podium finish with a 3.75 second lead much to the delight of the watching crowds. Michael behind him was involved in a 4-way battle for those remaining positions. He certainly had to do some very defensive driving throughout and he crossed the line in 6th place with a 0.5 second gap between these 4 trucks!
Race 4 was another reversal with the top 8 from race 2 reversed for this grid start. This put Michael on row 2 and Stuart with some work to do on row 4. At the start of the race there was some pushing and shoving and Stuart struggled to get from that back grid position, although he did manage to get the fastest lap of the race! Michael on the other hand used that starting position and his growing confidence in his truck to his advantage and got himself into the lead. No sooner had he managed this the race was red flagged. A major incident involving a truck coming off the track into the barrier had occurred and of course racing was suspended immediately. Results for this race were decided on the last full lap before the red flag which meant Michael got P2 and Stuart P7.
Due to the accident in race 4 this marked the end of the racing for the trucks for the weekend and the final race was cancelled. Thankfully no one was injured in this incident.
A great weekend of racing for the team with another bumper sized crowd flocking to the track again to enjoy the racing and the full schedule of entertainment from the Convoy Events team.
Thank you to all our sponsors for their continued support. Next race is at Donington Park with Convoy in the Park. We hope to see you there!
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