Very windy and dusty conditions today at the circuit, and as a result we started the day with a great deal of sand on the track to contend with.
The morning session went well with a long race run to begin with. My lap times started OK, however I did experience some drop off as the tyres went away from me toward the end of the run. This is very valuable experience as I continue to develop a feel for the Pirelli tyre.
My new tyre run at the end of the session went well, though was compromised once again by a red flag just at the end of my preparation laps. However, once we restarted I was able to put in a decent lap which put me P22 in a very close field of 30.
In the final minutes of the session, we went out on another set of new tyres. This went well and I was pleased to be one of the few to go quicker at this stage and moved up to P21 with a 1:48.5.
We started the afternoon session with some practice starts which went well and was once again, very valuable experience. Then we went out for another race run, as was the majority of the field. This went really well and through managing the tyres much better whilst still pushing we were very happy with my lap times at this early stage. At the end of the used tyre phase, we were sitting at P11 which was great.
In my final new tyre run for the day, I managed to break into the 1:47’s for the first time to finish in P19, which again, at this early stage is a very pleasing result.
Thoroughly enjoyed working with my engineer Mihai again today, and we are feeling very positive about the progress. Thanks to German and Ben on my car, and all the fantastic team at Jenzer.
One more day on track coming up tomorrow.
