Tom Jackson got his European Le Man Car series debut season underway at Silverstone a few weeks ago with mixed success.

Unfortunately Tom and his teammates didn’t finish the opening endurance race of the season, having to retire just before the first hour was complete.

However there were several positives for Tom and his team and teammates to take from the race as they head to the next round of the season in Italy.

Speaking to Kent Sports News, Tom said: “It was a new experience, and it was good that my first race was at Silverstone, as I didn’t need to learn the circuit as I already had that all in hand. It meant that going into the weekend I could just focus on learning how the team operates and how the event operates.

“I could see how that my teammates did as well, as it was the first time that I had met the Jesus guy as well, and it was good to see how we all operated and worked together. It was a good experience and driving a Le Mans prototype I am never going to say is a bad experience.

“Friday went quite well it was just, there was just a ridiculous amount rain and we had quite a lot of brake problems. They just wouldn’t seem to work and the brake pedal kept going to the floor and we spent the whole of Friday trying to work out what the brake problem was.

“Luckily going into qualifying on the Saturday morning we had worked out what it was and we then had to bed in a set of brakes and set a qualifying lap in the ten minute qualifying session. A lap time around Silverstone in the wet is about two and a half minutes, so I had about three or four laps to bed some brakes in and do a quali lap.

“I put it on the grid in seventh, so for my first outing in the championship against some gold rated professional prototype drivers I think that is pretty reasonable. It was a good starting position for the race later that day.

“The start of the race was crazy, the amount of spins that there were because it was a drying track and the track was quite slippery. A lot of people knew that it wasn’t going to rain anymore and had to take the risk to go onto slicks, and as it had been raining on Friday and for qualifying, no one had any scrubbed in slicks.

“So we had to go straight out in the race on brand new slicks with all the shine on them that they use when they mould the tyres. A lot of people were making the mistake of getting to much power on and just spinning on the starting straight. There were about four shunts before we had even crossed the line to start the race. It was just a case of me and everyone trying to slalom through these spinning cars and try not to get hit.“Luckily I got though that and got through 50 minutes of my stint and coming into the 55^th minute of that stint and two laps before I pitted, I was overtaking a Ferrari GT car and he turned in on me, as I was going past him, he hit my left rear quarter. The slightest of touches has knocked the wheel and broke the driveshaft.

“Subsequently I had to pull over at the Brooklands corner, and retire from the race. That was just 55 minutes into a four hour race so it was pretty heart wrenching. We got the car back to the teams pit garage with two hours to go. The team quickly realised it was the driveshaft and nothing major like the gear box or an engine failure.

“The guys from Speed Factory were trying to repair the drive shaft and get the car back out, they were working as crazy as hell to try and repair the car and get back out on track to scavenge any points that we could. It was unfortunate that we then had the marshals come along and say that even if we did get the car fixed we weren’t allowed to go back out on circuit.

“We know that we have some top six or top five pace, we have to take that from the weekend and go into Imola knowing that we can be up the front end and hopefully fighting for a podium.”

It was a learning curve for Tom for his opening weekend and it is valuable experience that he has gained as he gets used to the class and how it works.

He added: “I have learnt a lot, about how all the traffic works now with LMP2 cars coming past and trying to overtake the GT cars, I know how that works and  there are a lot positives to take from the weekend.

“It is like you said though when you see on the TV the car pulling up on the side then yes it is a bit the end of the race is over and you just have to go to the next race and hope that is the bad luck over and over the rest of the season we can compete.”

Tom did show good speed in the Speed Factory Ligier during the race weekend and that can be taken into the next round at Imola in mid-May.

“I will try and do as much research as I can before I go, but I have never raced anywhere in Europe apart from England. I am going to have to learn somehow whether it be going up to a simulator and driving it on a sim or just watching videos on Youtube.

“Everything helps and the little sessions that I have on the Friday before qualifying, I have got to use as much knowledge as I have gained in research and then take the pace that the guys have got and I have got to Imola and deliver the goods.

“It is good that the Speed Factory boys raced in the championship last year and they finished second last year in the LMP3 category, they know how to get a car around there quickly, so they should know what they are doing with set-up and they can help me out with data and videos.

“I know the boys will be there and ready to rock and I will just have to do my bit and get the car in as best a position as I can for them.”

Images courtesy of www.psp-images.co.uk