Donington Park - A strong start to the season for Halfords Racing with Cataclean!

On a circuit where the team is always strong, expectations were high going into qualifying on Saturday. But a few last-minute technical niggles saw the drivers struggle to extract the ultimate time from the car.  At the end of the session Flash ended up in 6th place just 0.235 off pole with Dan in 9th just 1/10th behind Flash.

Race 1 Both drivers got away well, Gordon was on the charge from the off and started to move his way up the order. Dan was in his own fight in the pack and was trading places throughout the race. Flash pulled off some demon overtaking manoeuvres and with strategic deployment of the push to pass Hybrid button eventually finished the race in 3rd place following Hills disqualification. Dan put up a valiant fight and again benefitted from Hills demotion to finish in 9th place.

Race 2 Flash charged through the field early on and caught Ingram within a matter of laps, Ingram defended resolutely down through Craners, but Flash timed his switch back perfectly for the run up Starkey’s to McLeans and with his finger firmly on the P2P button he charged into the lead and then managed to control the gap for his first win of the season. Dan unfortunately had overheating issues ,whilst running in traffic, which ultimately compromised his pace and he eventually finished in 12th position.   

Race 3 Dan rolled into the pit lane at the start of Race 3 with a throttle failure which unfortunately couldn’t be resolved and so the car was retired. Gordon again was pushing forward in race 3 but suffered similar engine temperature issues through running in the pack and decided to consolidate his position to finish a solid 9th.

Gordon added “That was a good start to the season for me, I don’t usually start that strong!” he joked “So to come away second in the Championship with a good haul of points is mega.  The car came alive in race trim, and I was just able to keep pushing forward. I hope the fans enjoyed the racing today, it was certainly close, and I think it will be that way all season, the Hybrid certainly seems to be working well.”

Daniel Rowbottom added “A frustrating weekend for me, we’d been chasing a small misfire all day Saturday which upset my qualifying a little bit.  The racing is so close round here, trading positions all the time and unfortunately I just couldn’t make my way forward in Race one. Race two I suffered with some temperature issues which meant I needed to get into some clean air and as soon as you do that you break the tow from the car in front and you’re compromised.  Race 3 I had throttle problems coming onto the grid and managed to get the car down pit lane, but unfortunately the team couldn’t resolve the issue and we had to retire. I can’t wait to get to Brands Hatch now, as this is typically another one of our strong circuits, and I’m keen to get my campaign started properly.”

2022 STANDINGS AFTER ROUND ONE DONINGTON

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

• GORDON SHEDDEN – 2ND
• DANIEL ROWBOTTOM – 14TH

MANUFACTURERS/CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP – 4TH

TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP – 3RD