Laura Tillett brings us up-to-date with the latest from a busy couple of weeks as she gets back to doing what she does best – racing.
A busy couple of weeks have passed and hopefully it will continue like this for a long time. I have really missed the rush of racing and the lead up to it.
On the 8th October I competed in the Henry Surtees Challenge at Buckmore Park, which I have competed in and supported since the start. It was great to see a full grid of drivers turn up for the event, even with the monsoon weather that literally soaked all of us to the bone.
I made it straight into the A final, which was a great result and after the practices and qualifying were over, and we were drenched, it dried up just in time for the finals. It was a tough race and everyone had a great time. Thank you again to John Surtees and Buckmore Park for having me back for another year of competitive fun.
After the Buckmore event, the short lead up to the Qatar MRF round had begun. I thought it was a good idea to go testing at PFI in my brothers Tonykart/IAME X30. It felt very natural to be back in a competitive kart and I was really happy with my lap times, I definitely haven’t lost the touch yet!
I really miss karting and to be able to come back, jump in a kart and be quick really makes me feel I should come back for a race or two. I might just have to do that sometime soon, would love to beat my brother and show him how it’s done!
I was feeling very confident after the test and that same week I headed off to Qatar for the first round of the MRF Challenge. I was excited to get back in the FR2.0 backed car because I had enjoyed it so much in 2013. Arriving to the circuit I already knew that I had a good team behind me to prep the car so again, I was full of confidence.
Hitting the track, I wasn’t as quick out of the box as I would have hoped but the times came in the end and I was knocking out some competitively consistent times, which I will take to Bahrain with me.
After being out of the car for almost eight months, it took me a little time to get back into the swing of throwing the car around again, but once I had, the feeling started to come back.
I just missed out on the top ten in every race, as I had to start at the back due to a bad qualifying (thanks to another driver). I also missed out on one of the practice sessions because of a fuel pump problem. It really didn’t look my weekend but I am really confident for the next round as I received some of my best car results ever last year in Bahrain.
I love this circuit and it really suits my driving. Now I am preparing for this next race as I want to achieve some great top five results, I know I can do it, you might even see me testing at PF over the next couple of weeks for some extra laps.
Next round 14th-15th November Bahrain