Top Ten finishes at Silverstone Classic

The Zing Trofeo Abarth GB Championship rolled into Silverstone last weekend along with hundreds of classic cars and thousands of spectators!

Taking Copse a little wide!

Due to work commitments, Sarah (unlike the rest of the Trofeo competitors) wasn't able to take part in testing on the Thursday and so her first time on track was qualifying on Friday afternoon.  Just before going out, Sarah discovered that she would be running on the Classic GP circuit, a circuit configuration she had never driven before!  Whilst this is substantially the old GP circuit, there is a different Vale and therefore, entry to Club corner.  This made the 30 minute qualifying quite challenging!  Sarah went out and tried to make herself familiar with the new layout whilst also trying to put in a qualifying time.  Josh Wakefield rolled the car quite spectacularly going into Copse on his fourth lap but, fortunately, landed back on all four wheels and in a place that enabled the qualifying session to continue rather than being red flagged! Josh was fine and continued to do both races!  Sarah qualified 11th for both of the weekends races.

The 12 celebrity's road-going Abarth AC's

Friday evening also saw 12 celebrities taking part in a race with the road going versions of the Abarth AC's.  The race was won by Rick Parfitt Junior, closely followed in second by Neil Primrose.

Those that stayed on after the racing were then treated to a concert from Dr Feelgood and the Yard Birds.

Race 1 wasn't until late on Saturday so this gave Sarah the opportunity to wander around the paddock, catch up with some fellow drivers and drool over some of the gorgeous classic cars.  Abarth also arranged for three masseuses to give all of the drivers a massage prior to the race!  Very relaxing!

The sun had been shining all day but, as the afternoon moved on, some cloud made its way over the circuit.  The Abarths lined up behind the pit garages to enable the spectators to have a good look before going out on the green flag lap.  This did mean, however, that the first time on the starting grid would be the actual start of the race!  Sarah went around her green flag lap, warming up the slick tyres and hoping she'd find the right spot to stop on at the start!

Unfortunately, Sarah got off to a poor start which lost her a place to Marco Pullen immediately into the first corner.  However, he then took too much speed through Becketts and spun, enabling Sarah to get the place back.

"That was the worst start I've had all year!" said Sarah. "I just got way too much wheel spin in both 1st and 2nd gear so that put me on the back foot from the beginning.  Fortunately, this did enable me to avoid Pullen spinning into Becketts!"

Sarah then chipped away and started putting in faster and faster lap times when it started to rain!  The rain was heavier down the Hanger Straight and into Stowe and, with classic cars having raced on the circuit all day, made the track very slippery!  Sarah, however, kept her foot down and, with some of the other drivers backing off because of the rain, started making progress and reeling in Paul Smith.  The rain kept going for about three or four laps and then abated.  Sarah then had a battle with Carl Bradley, managing to successfully defend until he went into Club far too quickly and went completely off the track.  However, carrying so much speed in the corner enabled him to get by on the new pit straight.  However, he then got a drive through penalty for coming off the track and Sarah regained 9th position which she held until the end of the race.

Race 2 was then at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning!  This time, Sarah's start was much better.  The first lap was fairly hectic with Matt Shead rolling going into Club.  This time the weather stayed clear and Sarah again managed to keep reducing her lap times, chipping away to another 9th place.

"Overall, I wasn't too disappointed with the weekend.  I started on the back foot having missed the test day and, due to budget constraints, ran the whole weekend on old tyres - but still we got quicker each time I went out and got two top ten finishes.  However, we've still got lots of work to do and the biggest issue I have the moment is time in the car."

The next round is at Brands Hatch on the 4th and 5th September with the German Touring Cars (DTM).