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Promising Brands Weekend Turns Sour For Fildes |
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Monday, 25 September 2006 |
Irishman Jonathan Fildes once again fell victim to dreadful luck at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit over the weekend during the 15th and 16th rounds of the 2006 Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship.
The 31-year-old, who drives for Total Control Racing, arrived at the Kent venue confident of podium finishes at the least and also feeling he would be a challenger for victory should qualifying go according to plan.
While Saturday’s sessions weren’t as good as he had hoped for, the Applied Signs & Display, Asgard Taverns, Atari Expo and AM Speedsport-backed star remained sure he would have a major bearing on the outcome of round 15 in particular after bagging the fourth fastest time in qualifying.
Having enjoyed podium outings at both Snetterton and Knockhill recently, the Co.Meath star was confident he could continue his run at Brands Hatch but after a good initial start to the first race, Jonathan was forced out onto the outside of the track at Druids Hairpin by Jonathan Adam and Mat Jackson.
With dirty tyres, having picked up the rubber ‘marbles’ from the outside of the track when forced wide, the Irish ace
then found himself in the middle of a three-car sandwich on the run
towards Surtees but with less grip than his rivals he was forced back
to seventh.
On lap two, Ben Winrow made a mistake which allowed Jonathan into sixth
position and he then set after fifth-placed Carl Breeze. But Jonathan’s
car was suffering badly with understeer and he was forced,
frustratingly, to settle for sixth.
“I hate understeer”, said Jonathan after the race, “I can only drive
around for so long with understeer as it drives me crazy. I tried
putting the brake bias to the back but it didn’t do much for me.
“At the start, Jonathan Adam was trying to take the inside into Druids
and I was behind him, but Jackson was there too and they put me out on
all the marbles so it took me a couple of laps to clean the tyres off
and I just couldn’t stay with them at that stage. I thought I would be
able to catch people for a while but the understeer was too bad.”
For round 18, eighth on the grid meant Jonathan would face more of an
uphill climb in the race but after a good getaway the Irishman looked
set for a decent outing and moved into seventh place on the run to
Druids.
Everything was about to take a turn for the worse though when the
Irishman was T-boned by Ben Winrow at Clearways, the latter having lost
control on the run through Surtees before travelling across the grass
and slamming heavily into the right-hand side of Jonathan’s car as he
rounded the corner.
Although forced off into the gravel and dropping to the tail of the
field, Jonathan continued in the race and looked to be driving some
searing laps as he attempted to close down those ahead and perhaps make
his way into the top 10.
By lap 13 the TCR ace was almost with 10th-placed Mike Doble having
closed a huge gap, but just two laps later Jonathan retired with
damaged steering and major problems with the intercooler – both
remnants of the Winrow incident on lap one.
“I was watching the temperature gauge as I knew there was a problem and
then as I got further into the race it became clear the intercooler had
gone so I pulled into the pits to be retire”, explained Jonathan
“I made a good start but I shouldn’t have been back there in the first
place, it was all down to qualifying badly again. As soon as I saw
Winrow spin I knew he was going to come back across the grass, I did
all I could to get out of the way but I was a sitting duck really and
there was nothing I could do.
“At Silverstone we have to turn it around and start on the first couple
of rows for both races. Finishing in the top four of the championship
is going to be very tough now but I’m aiming for two podiums – our luck
has to change.”
Silverstone National Circuit in Northamptonshire will host the
championship finale three weeks from now, 14th/15th October, with
official pre-event testing to be held on Friday, 13th October.
Coverage of this weekend’s Brands Hatch races, meanwhile, will be
replayed in full tomorrow morning, Tuesday, 26th September, on Motors
TV starting at 08.00. Sky Digital viewers can tune-in on channel 413
while NTL cable customers should visit channel 545.
2006 Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship Provisional Driver Standings (after rounds 15&16):
| Pos. |
Driver |
Points |
| 1st |
Mat Jackson |
246 |
| 2nd |
Alan Blencowe |
203 |
| 3rd |
Jonathan Adam |
196 |
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| 6th |
Jonathan Fildes |
128 |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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