Race report - Italian GP - Sunday 18th April 2010  21/04/2010

After qualifying 16th overall this put me 1st in the Quarter Final B.

   After a good start I stayed ahead of 2nd place but he did follow close behind me. It was like this for a good 5mins or so. Mr. Oddie, who had dropped down to the quarters after an engine change, was fast looming. There was really no point in fighting with him as it could have resulted in one or both of us going off.

  I stuck behind him, in 2nd for a couple of laps before he pulled away. Still close behind me 3rd was keeping with my pace, faster in some places of the track. The car felt good, just a little under-steer and wheel spin out of a corner.

   It was a matter of time though before 3rd place got past me. I really just let him through as he was faster and i didnt want to make a mistake trying to defend.  I stayed in 3rd for the rest of the final, happy to be through to the Semi's.

Semi Final B.

   I started 10th in the Semi B so I had nothing to lose. I made a good start but stayed behind 9th place coming into the first corner. I took the attitude of not going full on into the first corner and hoping I would be able to dodge any incidents. As it happens I gained two places within the first couple of minutes because of mistakes. The car felt a lot better in the Semi final. I had a good amount of steering but still some diffing out of some corners.

   I gained another place and was in 7th position for most of the race, making a couple of mistakes but was close to 6th until he pulled away. I was in 7th until about 5minutes to go when 6th place dropped out and I moved up.

   This gave me a chance to  get into the final depending on how fast 5th and 6th were in the Semi Final A.

   As it happens i was not quite fast enough to make it into the Main Final but overall I finished 12th. But more importantly I got my fastest lap of the weekend in the Semi Final and generally got faster over the weekend. I could have driven better in qualifying and even in the finals but the low grip track did not make it the easiest for me.

   It was a great performance for RS5 Drivers in general. 4 RS5's in the Main Final, 6 RS5's in the Top 12 and 7 RS5's in the Semi Finals. It was a great weekend for RS5 and deserve all the success they achieved.

Well done to Jeffrey (2nd), Clark (4th), Dario (5th) & Martin (7th) for making the Main Final.

Thank you to the members of the L. Collari track in Cassino Italy. It was a great weekend and they were so friendly and polite. The race weekend was lots of fun and even though the track is very low grip i would go there again. Thanks especially to Gianluca Decina for all his help. I could not have been there without him.

Regards

Cormac

Team Maximum Service Racing