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Kent racing driver James Dixon bounced
back from his frustrating first car meeting at Brands Hatch last month, as he
took a superb fourth place result at Rockingham Motor Speedway in
Northamptonshire this weekend.
The 18-year-old went into the
second round of the BARC Formula Renault Championship with the intention of
running at the front and taking a solid pair of points finishes. By the end of
the weekend James admitted that it was basically ‘mission
accomplished’.
A superb qualifying session on
Saturday allowed him to set the fifth fastest time, just two-tenths of a second
away from the front row of the grid. In the second, wet session he again missed
out on the front row of the grid, this time by just one tenth of a
second.
“It was an incredibly close
qualifying session,” said James. “I know I had the speed to get that extra
tenth, but there was so much traffic it was hard to string a really good lap
together and I missed out by the smallest of margins. I was happy with my pace
though. I’ve learnt a lot about the car since Brands Hatch and it showed as soon
as I hit the track,” he added.
On Sunday James had to contend
with wet conditions once again, after rainfall overnight. In the first race he
managed to make up one place on the opening lap, moving him into fourth place.
His strategy of staying consistent in the slippery conditions paid off as he
soaked up immense pressure from the chasing pack. At one point he closed in on
the third place driver ahead. Unfortunately, he was unable to find a way past,
but crossed the line just shy of the podium and bagged his best result of the
season to date.
In the second race he again
made up places on the opening lap, moving into eighth by the end of the first
tour. However, in the greasy conditions he was unable to mount a proper
challenge on the drivers ahead. With points on his mind he held his position and
grabbed more for his overall championship charge.
“I know if it had been dry I
could have been standing on my first car racing podium,” said James afterwards.
“I’ve only been out in the car in the wet about three times before today and I
was probably being just a bit too cautious. I wanted to come away from the
weekend with as many points as possible and hopefully a podium
result.”
“I’ve learned so much between Brands and here
that I can’t wait to get to OultonPark for the next round now. I’m still
learning about the car and how it reacts in the different conditions but I’m
taking everything on-board every time I go out there. The drivers ahead of me
have got two or more years of car racing experience already, so I’m happy that
I’m close enough to them now to start challenging for the podium, or even my
first win. It’s certainly what I’m going to be aiming to do for the rest of the
season,” he added.
James now has a five week break before the
third round of the series, at OultonPark, Cheshire in
May.
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