Race 1: On the Spear Head of Things
Race week had arrived and it was time to take our flight to the UK for the first time in 2023. The weekend was starting early with the official BTC test being Thursday and then the race weekend commencing on Friday. The plan for this year will involve much more travel. I will not be staying over in the UK for the entire season. I will be flying back and forth with only staying for a few rounds that are back to back and relatively close to each other.
Once we arrived at the track it was time to get prepared for the weekend. The team and I got right to work on settings for the bike based on last year and what we learned in Spain a few weeks earlier. Sandy and I went through the controls and bike setup. Alan, Jay and I went over data from last year to see what our targets were for the test sessions and make sure we made improvements in all areas. Unfortunately though, the weather didn't want to cooperate to much with us and it was cold and wet for the day.
We woke up Friday to a cold but sunny day and I was excited to get some dry laps in. The wet settings were removed from the bike and dry settings were setup. FP1 was all about getting reacquainted with Silverstone. I have to be honest, finishing P3 last year in Race 2, I had really high expectations for this weekend and that does play a small part throughout today. FP1 was decent and I had a faster pace than I did last year, but so did everyone else. We had all elevated our skills for 2023 and it was showing. Finishing P12 in this session had me a bit frustrated, but thankfully I was able to focus on the task at hand and make sure I kept progressing towards the front. FP2 was a much much better session, although P11 doesn't really say much, the settings had me really happy with the bike and I felt good for qualifying the next morning.
Saturday morning meant it was time to qualify. Tactics were set and I headed out. Couldn't find the proper draft I needed to get that one fast lap made so I ended up qualifying P11 for race 1. I really wanted to be in the first two rows, so I knew I had to get a massively great start in order to latch onto that front group. I was also 1.2sec slower than them at that point and I needed to improve that gap as well. The team and I did a lot of studying data and making decisions to give me the best chance at a front group run.
Race 1 came and my launch was perfect. Jumped into the top 8 and lived battling within the front group. My confidence kept building and building as the race went on. Unfortunately, red flag came out and cut the race short...I was in P6 at the time, but the lap before I was in P8 and that is the position given. Race 1 provided some great insight, I had the lap record breaking pace if you combined my best sectors. Sector 1 and 4 were my best by far having the top 3 fastest lap times. Fixing my tuck really helped me in the straights as well with trap speed. All the puzzle pieces were there and I saw them...could I put them together for Race 2 and do better?
Race 2 was fast...all of us went fast. The battles were tighter and no one was getting away. I bounced around from P5 to P10. Finished the Race in P8 and it was hard fought. My progression from Day 1 being 1.2 from the leaders per lap to having the 3rd fastest lap in the race and finishing just .7 from P1 lets you know what a fun race this was. I was fastest in Sector 1, improved Sector 2 from 12th to 3rd fastest and same for Sector 4. I am very happy with that Race and leaving Round 1 in P8 in the championship is a good start to the championship.
Being on the podium on this track last year, I really wanted the podium again this year. It took a bit to really focus on the positives and how close I really was to that happening. No podiums this round but there are 8 more rounds to go and they are coming. The targets have not shifted and we are just getting better and better each time out. Being home for the next handful of weeks, I know what I will need to work on and come prepared to execute in Round 2 at Donington Park.
Massive thank you to the Bowes family (Michael and George) for housing us for the week. To Sandy, Alan and Jay as always, amazing machine the entire weekend and nothing but progress. Mike Torres for all the prep work and getting ready for the weekend. My team at home for the support and always available if needed. Definitely looking forward to Donington Park. If you like data and want to see how my entire weekend progressed...you can download the files from here!
