FORMULA RENAULT 2.0 NEC – SUNDAY WASHED OUT
The penultimate round of the 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championship concluded in unsatisfactory fashion on Sunday with both races scheduled for the day badly affected by weather conditions around the Most Autodrom.
The third and final day of action should have seen Matty contest two races but with the circuit soaked and heavy, persistent rain still falling, the organisers took the decision to cancel the day’s third race and move the second to that time slot, in the hope of running in better, drier conditions.
Following a qualifying session ruined by the weather, Matty started towards the back of the field in 18th position and facing an uphill task to make up positions on a tight and twisty track.
That task became a virtual mission impossible when the rain returned and dowsed the circuit again as the cars lined up on the grid.
Following a ten minute delay to allow the teams to adjust their set ups and switch to wet weather tyres, the race got underway with a rolling start behind the safety car.
Once underway, in conditions with almost zero visibility, the race became a virtual procession with the safety car deployed for a good portion of the 25 minute duration and none of the field taking undue risks and attempting wild moves on cars ahead when the race was under green flag conditions.
Matty did make up two positions during the course of the race, one through an accident for a car further ahead and one post-race when Gregor Ramsay was penalised for overtaking before the restart line following the safety car.
While much was promised by Matty’s form at the start of the weekend, the 18 year old remains upbeat ahead of the final round in Germany in three weeks saying that Most provided useful experiences.
“I’ve never raced in wet weather like that in a single seater before, so Sunday was a totally new experience and one that will prove useful in the future.”
“In conditions like that, visibility is virtually zero and you can’t see any of the normal reference points you’d use to judge your breaking, so you just have to drive by memory and use anything you can make out as a sighting point.
“After aquaplaning during qualifying, which is probably the scariest experience I’ve had in a racing car, I was pretty keen to just get the race done without losing it so it was job done from that point of view.”
“We’ve now got a three week break until the last meeting in Germany so I’ll be preparing for that to try so the team and I can try to sign off on a high.”