What a great weekend we had at the Eurofinals at the TT-Circuit Assen First we like to say a big thanks to all our partners for the support the whole season and to all those who paid us a visit yesterday. Heartwarming! After taking a lot of hurdles this season, yesterday it was our last chance for a good result. The team (Frank and Bas) did an amazing job the last weeks to solve all the issues and to get the car ready in time. Are goals for the event where simple, ending the event without mayor problems and try to be the fastest Dutch Time Attack Team. We decided to do some test laps on the Saturday to make sure all the updates done on the car are working as it should be. In total we did about 6 laps, and it was a relieve nothing broke down and the car was performing quit well. A good starting point for the championship on the Sunday. Where the Saturday was sunny with a temperature of about 20 degrees, the Sunday started completely different, 14 degrees and raining. We had also booked for the first free practice in the morning, so this was a good opportunity to find out how the car would behave and to get some experience in the rain (until now we have been lucky it was always dry). It was a big surprise for us to find out how damn quick the car is in the rain (what’s not gone unnoticed). So we could conclude all the effort which has been put in the car has paid off. With good confident we started the warm-up session. At the warm-up session the track was still wet, so we again choose for the intermediates. The first laps the tyres performed very well, but due to some small mistakes we didn’t set the best lap time possible. Also with a track getting dryer and dryer the tyres where getting hotter and hotter, so there was no opportunity the improve our lap time. Nevertheless we were able to set the third fastest lap time (2:09) overall and not far behind the big boys (2:06). In the qualification it was the same story the track was to wet for slicks and to dry for intermediates. So we knew after a few laps the tyres would get overheated, so only a few laps to set a good lap time. We managed to do a reasonable lap of 2:06 before the tyres loosed all their grip. Again good for a third fastest lap time overall, Gareth Lloyd set a 2:03 and Hans Schori was only two tents of a second faster. In the final the track dried up so it was time to use the slicks. Because we have only one hot lap it is for all the competitors a challenge to adept to the new circumstances. As always a started the in lap as It would have been the hot lap, to warm up the tyres, to get an idea of the grip and to find the braking points as fast as possible. In the in lap all went as planned, but in the ‘Strubben corner’ it went wrong, I accidently not only hit the brake but also the throttle. This resulted in a big break out of the tail, and I just managed to keep the car on track, but of course ruined the corner and the long straight after that. So the rest of the lap I took all the risks, and even lost a piece of the bumper by hitting a pile of tyer, which was standing on the apex. In the hot lap we set 1:55, again good for a third lap time overall, Richard Marshall (UK, Mitsubishi EVO 9) set a 1:52 and Hans Schori (Switzerland, Mitsubishi EVO 6) a 1:54. So at the end of the day we took the second place in the Dutch Extreme Class and third place in the Championship, and the whole day we were the fastest Dutch car on track! It is also nice to find out that with such difficult circumstances we can keep up with some of the fastest Time Attack cars in Europe. Ending the season means starting the preparations for the new season, so keep an eye on our Facebook!
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 20:20:23 +0000
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