Laura Tillett returned to racing in the MRF Challenge just a few short weeks ago and she loved being behind the wheel racing again.

It is the 23-year-old’s second season in the MRF which races during the winter months, a series that she has developed a real love for racing in due to the family nature.

The first race of the season was a new track for Laura, the Losail International Circuit in Qatar and she acquitted herself well finishing just outside the top ten.

Speaking to Kent Sports News on her return, Laura said: “It was so nice to be back in the car again after all that time, you think that you aren’t going to get that chance to be able to go back out. It was nice to sit back in the car and everything comes back to you naturally again.

“It did take me a while because there were a few corners that I had never really experienced before, like quite high speed corners, they took me a while to get in the swing of. The car and the set-up and the position just all felt so natural.”

With four races across a weekend in the MRF Challenge it means that Laura gets plenty of wheel to wheel racing and competitive action, which is something that she enjoys.

She added: “With four races you do get a lot of track time, and you also get qualifying and practice sessions on the mornings of race day. Unfortunately for me this week it wasn’t as lucky as my qualifying was messed up.

“I was taken out on lap three and so I missed the whole of qualifying and then I also had a fuel pump failure in one of the practice sessions, so I missed out on a whole practice as well. I was about 45 minutes down on everybody else on practice time.

“In qualifying I went to make a move on him to obviously get passed him because he was slower, and he turned in on me. In qualifying most of the time you back out but he turned in and he carried on and I wasn’t able to as he damaged my front wishbone. It meant that I had then qualified last and I had to start at the back for every race and that wasn’t good.”

In the races themselves Laura managed to show her talents and move her way through and finish just outside the top ten, except for race four where she was involved in an incident.

“Unfortunately the results still weren’t good enough really and I would like to have been higher up but it took a while to get there more than I liked. Then in the last race I had made such a good start and was looking competitive to be in the top ten and then someone took me out.

“It was my chance of getting back up there and it was ruined really, it was the same driver that took me out. Also, that driver had a few incidents with other incidents with his special awareness, he is quite new to it and that it is something that he is going to need to learn.”

There aren’t many races that take place at night and Laura enjoyed the experience of racing under the lights at the Losail International Circuit.

She said: “Night racing isn’t popular and I can see why, it was a real strange atmosphere, you get up really late and you race at 5pm, 7pm and 10pm then you go back to the hotel and everyone has gone to bed it is just so weird.

“You wake up late and go to the pool in the morning before you head to the track, you get there and it is actually evening and you say ‘good morning’ to everyone. It was definitely great to be a part of and I would love to do it again.”

Having been out of a car and not having a regular drive since last season’s MRF Challenge it was clear that Laura had the buzz back of racing again.

She added: “Last season I really enjoyed it, and I got back in the car and I felt really comfortable and it was just brilliant. I love that championship it is just so good, there are a few new drivers doing it this year and even they said that it was just such a lovely atmosphere.

“You are all under one roof and you are all competing and sharing data together it is a really great atmosphere. It is nothing like other series where you are in teams and you can’t speak to certain drivers. The MRF Championship is just really fun, all the drivers are talking to each other and they are all having a laugh. No matter where you finish it is just a great atmosphere.

“It is one of the reasons that I wanted to go back, not only is it a great deal but you make good friends and it is good racing. There are drivers doing it again this year that did it last year and they feel exactly the same way. It is a great championship and I really would advise it to anybody.”

It won’t be long before Laura is back on track for round two of the series when it heads to Bahrain and the Bahrain International Circuit is a track that Laura knows well.

“It isn’t quite coming quick enough, I got back on the plane on the way home and thought I don’t want to be leaving, I want to stay out and do some more laps. I got one of my best results at Bahrain so hopefully I can get some top ten, if not top five from this and progress from there. It will be lovely to get out there and do some more laps and that is what I am keen to do.

“I was quite put off by my performance in Qatar, you look at the results and they weren’t in the top ten as they were last year, and you look at the people I am competing with and they might not be as competitive as last year.

“I am still down the ranks and I was really upset and angry with myself and I want to do better than this. Everyone was telling me that people have bad weekends and it’s not going to go well every time you go out. I thought you have just had a bad weekend and Bahrain is going to be really good and back where I want to be.”