Tom Wins a wet thriller at Silverstone

Date:
August 11, 2022
Event:
Round 4: Radical SR1 Cup
|
2022
Season

Round 4 of the Radical SR1 cup was to be Tom's 2nd round in the car due to commitments with his alternate Aston Martin GT4 program in the ADAC GT4 Series.

A special weekend at Silverstone saw the team compete in their first endurance race of 45 mins, with one mandatory pitstop; as well as the usual 2X 20 mins races the day before.

It was straight into Qualifying for Tom on Saturday and with minimal running with the University of Derby Motorsport team, he posted a very competitive time on the board which was good enough for P2 in the SR1 class, dropping to P3 in the latter stages of the session. With the set up on the car not quite in the optimal window, Tom was confident that he was going to make progress in the sprint races coming up.

Race 1 saw a brilliant start for Tom as he made his way up to P2 up the inside of the AF Corse car at the fast Copse corner. He battled with the leader on the opening lap but struggled to keep in the slipstream due to the SR1s dirty air. Over the next 4 laps he battled with the car behind to hold track position, but didn't quite have the pace in the car to do so. By the end of the race the pack was spread out and Tom came home a solid 3rd to give Team Derby Motorsport their 4th podium of the year, still a brilliant result.

Race 2 later in the day came with Tom starting again from P3. Once more a brilliant start kept him in position into the first corner, but with Yellow flags through the lap he was unable to make any progress. Tom dropped a place off the restart but instantly gained it back again into Copse. The battle meant Tom just lost touch with the 2 leaders ahead. Struggling with a large amount of understeer, Tom battled to keep position ahead of the Track Focused run car but all his efforts weren't quite enough as McFadden slipped through on the inside of Vale. Tom finished P4 over the line, not what he or the team would've hoped for but still a strong result nonetheless.

For the Endurance race on Sunday there was to be a separate qualifying to set a new grid. With a few extra entries, the grid looked to be the biggest of the year with some stiff competition.

During the qualifying session, Tom had an unfortunate failure of the drive train meaning he only completed 2 laps placing him P5 on the grid. He commented "it's a long race. I know I have the experience and race craft to win, I just have to do my job and we should be fighting for the win".

Just before the start of the race the rain came down and came down hard. Tom and the team elected to stay on the dry grooved tyres as making a pitstop would not warrant the time gained on wet tyres.

Once again Tom got a brilliant start and momentarily led the race into turn 1 all the way from P5 on the grid. He held position for the opening 2 laps until the leader came in for wet tyres due to the sudden downpour. Tom decided he would continue on the dry tyres until the end of the race. After leading for most of the opening stint, Tom sat at a consistently fast pace on his dry set up, having the end of race in mind trying not to over work the tyres. The mandatory pitstop came and Tom made a stop when the rain started to subside to let the tyres cool down. When he pulled away the engine hesitated and Tom lost a couple of seconds which meant he dropped to P3. Catching the leaders each lap, there was a safety car with 7 mins left of the race, bunching the pack up meaning he could capitalise on his pace at the end of the race. After the safety car restart Tom jumped straight up the inside of P2 and got a brilliant run towards the infamous Maggots/ Beckets section. Close to the lead, he jinked one way and then the other to go round the outside to take the lead with 3 laps left. Tom then pulled a 2 second lead to take the University of Derby's first official win, a fantastic result!

Tom comments "I'm over the moon! For a car to win a race that is solely run by students, well, we shouldn't be able to! It's all down to the boys and girls putting the hours in and making my life a lot easier on the track with a great car! A huge thank you to them, may it continue!"

Tom's next race in the Radical SR1 cup series is on 13th August at the Oulton Park GP circuit.

Related

Podium for Tom at the Sachsenring!
Tom scored a hard fought podium at Round 5 of the ADAC GT4 series at the Sachsenring circuit, coming from outside the Top 10 to 3rd place overall.