Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Saturday morning, and the weather was looking very unpredictable, with rain often being interrupted with bursts of sunshine. This made the choice of setup and tyres very tricky, and as the qualifying session approached it looked as though the track was going to dry so Michael and the team opted for a dry setup along with slick tyres. As he was about to make his way out onto the track, it started raining again and the track quickly became too wet for the dry tyres. The rain wasn’t expected to last, so the car was fitted with a used set of wet tyres, which would be quicker than a new set if the track dried out. Unfortunately, the rain didn’t ease off, instead it got heavier meaning that Michael’s worn wet tyres didn’t have the grip of his rival’s new tyres. Come the end of the session, Michael had done enough to secure 3^rd place on the grid for race 1 the following day.

Race 1

Michael opted to use a set of scrubbed tyres for the two races on the Sunday, meaning that the tyre life should be extended, but the ultimate pace from them would be already used.

Michael made a good start to race 1, and was able to jump up to second place on the first lap, and began to apply pressure to the leader. He maintained the pressure on the leader up until the half way point of the 25-minute race, until the safety car was brought out to recover a crashed car. As soon as this safety car period was over, and the cars returned to racing, another incident forced the safety car back out for a further few laps. After the safety car once again returned to the pits there was less than 10 minutes remaining, and despite his best efforts, Michael couldn’t challenge for the overall win.

Race 2

Michael lined up in second place for race 2, and an excellent start promoted him to the lead going into the first corner. After a couple of close laps of racing, Michael dropped back to second place and slightly lost touch with the leader as they began to make their way through lapped traffic. However, Michael kept his cool and continued to preserve his tyres for a big push towards the end of the race. With 15 minutes remaining of the 30-minute race, Michael picked up his pace again, and closed the 6 second gap to the leader down to just 2 seconds, in 7 laps. The race was back on! He continued to push, and with just 9 minutes to go the leader picked up damage on the rear suspension, allowing Michael into the lead. With a sizeable gap to the car behind, Michael backed off and took a comfortable win in the final race of the season.

Michael said after the race: ‘I am delighted to end the season on such a high!  I would like to thank my sponsors Croudace Homes .Co.UK and Protectall  (London) Ltd, and everyone who has supported me this year.