Brands Hatch, England (October 16, 2009) – The day started bright and early. Up at 6:30 and downstairs at a little after 7:00. Mr. Dempsey and some of the crew were already waiting in the breakfast lounge at the hotel – which is right by the entrance to the race track – as we arrive, and they needed to head down to the paddock to finalize a few changes on the cars since it was quite damp outside. The lads left us the keys to one of the cars, so we could take our time eating and head down to the paddock when we were ready. Which meant… driving a right-hand drive car for the first time! Even though it was a really short distance, it was not nearly as difficult or awkward as I built it up to be before I actually drove.
When arrived down at the pits and greeted the crew, they were delighted to see the car had returned in one piece! We then got straight to work and scaled the cars to make sure they were perfect for today’s practice. The first session was wet, so I took it easy for the first few laps. As I began to get really comfortable, I pushed harder and posted the fastest lap of the session. It was a very good feeling to see that we have speed in rain or shine – which is one less thing we need to think or wonder about when it comes down to race time.
Sessions two and three were both nearly the same. It continued to stay dry the rest of the day, so we got to try a few new setup changes on the car. Most of them improved the car, and we ruled out the ones that hurt us on the stopwatch. As the sessions came to a close, I was P2 just a few hundredths off my Irish teammate at the end of the day. Although it was not the quickest time, our consistency is much better than most of the drivers in the top five, which is a great characteristic for the long runs such as the races.
Overall, an excellent day. The car is prepped and ready for tomorrow, the graphics were completed this evening – the car looks fantastic! – and it’s ready to give everyone a run for their money tomorrow morning in qualifying!
Thank you to the Team USA Scholarship as well as everyone at Cliff Dempsey Racing for putting in 110 percent each and every day.
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