Extremely wet conditions for my first exposure to racing on at street circuit at Pau! The rain had been coming down all night, and continued for the vast majority of the day, so there was naturally a great deal of water on the track.
You quickly learn, even without the weather, that racing on a street circuit is about pushing with very little grip. The fact that the surface is not made for racing, is very bumpy, and has little or no rubber laid down is the reason for this. In addition is the fact that we all run very high ride heights to compensate for the bumpy surface which means a reduction in downforce and grip.
With only two 40 min practice sessions, it was critical to maximise the time on the track and to learn as quickly as I could. We had a red flag for around 10 mins in session 1, but I managed to progress through the session without error and improving throughout.
The second session was wet again, but I managed to continue to push harder and spent the majority of the session just in or outside the top ten. In the final few laps the track did start to dry and after a quick pit stop I had 3 or 4 laps in these improving conditions. Upon review I could have pushed a little harder at this point, so again good learning to take into the weekend.
Loving the experience, and can’t wait to get stuck in to a very important qualifying!
