Alex swapped his 400+ hp NASCAR for a 68bhp Citroen C1 when he competed in the
C1 Challenge 4 Hour race at Snetterton.
After the success at Rockingham for the Citroen C1 racecar built with his father Ian, where it
finished the race in credible 20th overall, without missing a beat, it was time for the next race.
Teaming up again with Scott Jeffs and Callum Cripps, but also a new driver Jamie Callender making up the four- driver team. Since the first race a number of improvements had been made to the car including the fitment of a new gearbox and a full rebuild.
Qualifying was used to enable the drivers to complete the required three laps to qualify for the race before Alex went for a fast time. A good lap saw Alex qualify the team in fifth place.
Alex then had the responsibility to start the race and as the 53 cars lined up for the rolling start it took Alex less than a lap to move into 3rd place which he held until he handed the car over to Jamie, after an hour of racing.
A strong drive from Jamie saw the team move back up to 17th after the pit stop and then after two hours he handed over to Callum. A quick fuel stop and change saw Calium, lap-by-lap, close and pass the cars ahead. Then an incident on track saw the safety car deployed, which instead of picking up the leading cars pulled in front of Callum, allowing the cars in front to race off and gain nearly a lap.
This mistake by the safety car driver resulted in the team losing touch with the leading cars and the race plan had to change to getting as high up the order as possible.
With just under an hour to go Scott took over the car from Callum with the team in 9th overall and proceeded to drive the wheels off it, setting the team’s fast lap before crossing the line in 7th overall.
A good result, but the team were disappointed as without the mistake of the safety car driver
the team were on course for a podium finish, anyway that is racing!
Now, time for some more changes and upgrades to the car from the lessons learnt, before the next C1 race at Rockingham in September.