Race Report - Spa

With budget problems now becoming an ongoing consideration, Rob contacted his old sparing partner from the Mini Challenge and Seat days, Eric Bailey, to share the car for the weekend. Eric drove in Race 1 while Rob competed in Race 2.

Eric soon was able to get to grips with the car and post competitive times pretty much in line with what Rob had achieved earlier in the season. He was reasonably pleased to qualify in 21st position out of 25 runners, although incliment weather conditions on race morning meant that half of the grid lined up on dry tyres whilst half lined up on wet tyres. On a dry but wet track Eric was unfortunate to be pushed wide just after Les Combes and ended up on the grass half spinning and returning half a lap down. He was however able to recover on the drier conditions and finished eventually in 17th position.

With Rob competing in Race 2 there were high expectations in qualifying and after being heavily baulked by a number of fellow competitors in qualifying, Rob eventually opened up on the grid in 21st place.

A great drive early on enabled him to rise up to 12th place which he held for the majority of the race, although a mistake towards the end of the race left him passing through a gravel trap at in excess of 200 kmh and re-joining four places down. A great battle ensued, although in the end Rob was only able to finish in 16th place, but more importantly, one place above the position where his great sparing partner had finished earlier in the day!