Silverstone Race.
EuropeanMotorSport:
The Jaguar Saloon Racing Team.
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Jaguar Racing's newsletter, 5th April 2006.
Dear Friends,
We are happy to report that the opening round of the 2006 championship was
a great success for the EuropeanMotorSport (EMS) team.
Silverstone is a premier venue and as usual a good crowd had gathered to
see the racing, which provided spectacles, thrills and spills!! A record
number of cars have entered for this year's championship; 25 cars had
entered in this race making up the largest grid of any of the races at
Silverstone on Saturday.
The qualifying sessions were wet and very greasy as the track has not been
used much this year. So, the grid positions were not necessarily indicative
of relative performance!
The EMS team cars managed 1st in Class B for Jim Shea, 2nd Class B for
Simon Lewis and 6th Class B for Howard Kirkham, whose car's 'set up' had
been adjusted and was not quite correct!! This put the EMS cars on the
front row for Jim, 2nd row for Simon and 5th row for Howard. After
adjusting the 'set up' Howard was confident that his car would perform well
in the race.
Race Review.
Fortunately the weather improved and was bright and dry for the races, the
team's drivers and the spectators were very pleased about this.
The grid formed up, soon all the questions would be answered; the red
lights on the overhead gantry went out and the 24 saloons thundered towards
'Copse' the first corner.
Jim managed to out drag Garrard, the pole sitter
in his S Type and was leading as the cars went towards 'Maggots'. Simon had
a bad start and dropped back to 11th place!! However, Howard had a great
start and managed to get by 3 cars before Copse moving him up to 9th place!
Jim couldn't hold off the S Type and the MK11 and was in 3rd place after
the first lap, but he settled down behind them waiting for an opportunity
to overtake. Howard continued to make up places and was soon up to 6th
overall and had to constantly fend off the cars behind him. Simon also made
progress from his 11th place and made his way up to 4th but missed a gear
at 'Woodcote' and moved back to 5th.
Jim battled with the S Type and the
MK11 to no avail, but the MK11 spun out at Maggots and Jim took 2nd place
overall. There were several other attempts by all of the EMS team to
improve on their places but the race finished with Jim 1.5 seconds behind
the S Type and 2nd overall. Simon came across the line 5th overall and
Howard was just behind in 6th overall.
The EMS team secured valuable points
in the championship; Jim was 1st in Class B, Simon 3rd in Class B and
Howard 4th in Class B. As a result of this, Jim leads the overall championship at this very early
stage, with Simon and Howard just a few points behind.
We look forward to seeing you at Snetterton.
Regards,
EuropeanMotorSport.
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