Connor De Phillippi – On the Podium!

Brands Hatch, England (October 17, 2009) – It was finally race day. I didn’t sleep much last night because I had so many questions in my head. Although we needed to get up 30 minutes earlier than we have this whole trip, we somehow managed to get up quicker, even with less sleep! Once I got my morning rolling by listening to some music, I felt ready for the big day! I wasn’t sure what to expect for the qualifying and race. All I continued to hear is how aggressive the European drivers are, but it finally got to a point where I just told myself I would figure it all out on the track.

We headed down to the lobby early for once to get some breakfast, but of course this one morning – I guess because it was the weekend – the restaurant were opening a half-hour later! So since we were going to have to wait, we met Mr. Dempsey in the lobby and then made our way down to the paddock. He asked us if we were ready for today, and there was no doubt that we were.

My mechanic Andrew had the car prepped and ready when I arrived and the first thing I told him was that I was going to drive the wheels off it during qualifying! He has been working so hard and I wanted to start out the race days in excellent form. Since we were hungry, Mrs. Dempsey began to whip up some breakfast for the whole team. Each day she managed to beat the previous breakfast from the day before, and again she did!

So after a outstanding breakfast, the crew and I headed to the grandstands at Paddock Hill to watch Brett in Heat One. The first six laps were good to watch and it gave me a good idea of what to expect for my race. As Brett’s Heat continued, I had to walk back to our pit area to prepare for my race. The pressure wasn’t really kicking in. As long as I stuck to my plan of surviving the first part of the race, I was happy to just settle into position and keep any risky moves to the absolute minimum.

In the closing stages, I realized the car was not quite capable of moving forward any further without having some risky contact. So I finished in third place, although I was closing on the leader and the second-place driver. Overall I would have liked to finish higher, of course, but I was towards the front and will move onto tomorrow with great confidence.

I would like to thank again my mechanic Andrew and the whole Cliff Dempsey Racing team for preparing a great race car. And we’ll be closer to perfect for tomorrow after the setup changes tonight!!

Stay tuned.