Laura Tillett endured a tough outing in the latest round of the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup at Silverstone last weekend.
Tillett is remaining positive as there are plenty of positives to be taken from the weekend, despite not getting the results that her form in testing showed that she deserved.
Enduring one of the most frustrating race meetings of her motorsport career, the 24-year-old still managed to battle the odds well at the rain-hit Northamptonshire track to secure points finishes in rounds seven and eight on the full Grand Prix Circuit, a best of 16th position coming in race two.
From the outset on Saturday, Laura’s weekend was beset by problems. First, in qualifying, an issue with the piston rings in the engine of the Sittingbourne racer’s VW Golf led to a major lack of power and resulted in an uncharacteristic last row start for the first race.
Overnight, the Team HARD mechanics replaced the powerplant with an alternative engine and so hopes were high of a strong charge through the order in Sunday’s opener which took place on a wet track after earlier rain.
No sooner had Laura set off on the first of two formation laps, though, than she realised something was wrong with the power delivery once more. Visiting the pits at the end of the first sighting lap, it soon became clear the breather pipe had come loose and so the team quickly rectified the issue.
Laura’s troubles didn’t end there however. As well as having to start the race from the pitlane, she also had to wait to join the track until two rivals with time penalties had been waved off the grid. By the time she exited the pitlane, the Kent starlet had lost in the region of 20 seconds but she mounted a determined drive to climb through well into 21st position from the 29 car entry.
Improving her pace throughout the slippery six lap contest, Laura set a best time of 2m45.869 seconds on the final lap – a match for midfield pace. Then, post-race, a disqualification for fellow Team HARD racer Michael Epps elevated Laura into the top 20.
Speaking after the weekend, Laura said: “It’s definitely not been the weekend we hoped for. Everything went wrong from the start. When the piston rings went in qualifying, there was no compression in the engine and with only four or five laps possible in the session I just came in – there was no point being out there and getting in everyone’s way.
“Then, when I went out for the warm-up lap in the first race, the breather had fallen off the new engine. I had to come into the pits for that to be sorted so we started from the pitlane, but then I couldn’t go until the two other people at the back of the grid had their penalties. It wasn’t ideal, but at least I managed to come through pretty well. When it’s like that, you have to stay positive!”
Beginning round eight from 20th on the grid, as per the race one result, Laura made good progress into 17th position on the first lap but was sandwiched in a very tight battle and a lap later was edged back to 18th spot.
Remaining there over the course of the next couple of tours of the GP circuit, she then profited from issues for two rivals to climb into 16th position with three laps to go and stayed there to the flag to accrue some more deserved championship points.
Although slipping to 19th position in the championship, from 16th at the start of the weekend, Laura is only eight points outside the top 15 and just 24 points shy of the top 12 in the standings in her first season in front wheel drive ‘tin top’ racing.
The Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup’s annual overseas trip is next on the 2015 schedule with rounds nine and 10 taking place at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on Friday, 10th July, and Saturday, 11th July.
Laura added: “I’ve only ever done a couple of laps at Spa when I was working with Caterham, so I’m really looking forward to racing there for the first time. Hopefully we can kick-start our season and get things moving in the right direction.”
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