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Bank holiday bad weather frustrates Dixon on car racing debut |
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Friday, 28 March 2008 |
Kent teenager James Dixon got his car racing career off to a frustrating and disappointing start at Brands Hatch on Bank Holiday Monday. The Candy Carriers-backed driver had to battle freezing temperatures and falling snow over the course of the meeting, leaving him struggling for grip and top results.
In the opening qualifying session, James managed to claim an impressive sixth place on the grid, as snow fell on the track. However, he knew that there was more time to come and for the second session, he and the team decided to gamble on a half wet/half dry car set-up.
The decision looked like paying off as the session got underway, with James and his team-mate locking out the front row early on. But, with just a few minutes left to run, a dry line started to appear around the circuit, which allowed several of his rivals to get a clear run, dropping him down to 11th place, just three-tenths of a second away from pole position.
 “That session was really frustrating for me,” admitted James afterwards. “We took the gamble and it looked like it was going to pay off for us. But, that’s racing and we were so close on times, it could have gone either way with the weather.”
The first of the two races gave more frustration to the former karting star, with a series of red-flags halting the race as drivers struggled in the cold and wet conditions. A poor start by James dropped him down the order, but he managed to get back up to fourth on the opening lap only for the race to be stopped. In what was meant to be a 20-lap race, the results were declared after four laps, following yet another race stoppage, giving James ninth on his debut.
In the second race, another poor start meant he had plenty of work to do over the course of the race. However, further stoppages meant that once again the race distance was shortened, this time to five laps and a 16th place finish for James was not a representation of his hard work and speed in pre-season testing.
“It was a nightmare start to my car racing career,” said James. “I couldn’t believe the amount of red flags and race stoppages. I know there are a few areas I need to work on. It was my first ever standing start in a racing car, so I need to practice those. I had a really good final test at Brands Hatch a few weeks ago and was really hoping to get a solid result here too.”
“I’m going to go to Rockingham for the next two races and aim to get my season off to a proper start there though. The pace is in me and the car, I just had didn’t get the luck at Brands,” he added.
James will next be in action in three weeks time, at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire on the weekend 19/20 April.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 28 March 2008 )
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