Date: 18.07.10
James Walker had to be content with a sixth place finish today
in his first ever race at Zolder in Belgium. Although the Jerseyman
got to grips with the new track very quickly it turned out to be a
troubled weekend.
James qualified well on Saturday, finishing third in his group.
This performance put him in fifth place on the grid for the first
of today's races. At the start he got away well but then lost
a place to a charging Craig Dolby in the Tottenham car. He fought
back and kept his position until the pit stops but unfortunately a
slow stop meant he dropped a place to AC Milan's Yelmer
Buurman.
"I was disappointed as we didn't come in at the earliest
opportunity so we effectively shot ourselves in the foot," said
James.
James had to put on a charge to make up for lost time. He caught
and passed FC Basel's Max Wissel at the last corner and grabbed
sixth place but Buurman by that time was well out of reach.
Starting race two from 12th place meant that James was in the
thick of the action during the rolling start, which is often a
treacherous place to be. James got a great start but Marcos
Martinez ahead of him didn't and the two made contact.
Martinez then went on to be involved in two further incidents
before he reached turn one and out came the safety car.
Once the race got fully underway James was putting in good lap
times so it was disappointing that he again lost time due to
another slow pit stop, an area where he and his team are usually
very strong. James rejoined the race one place down on the position
he needed to make the Super Final so he started to push hard.
His race ended when he span off, chasing for that final position,
leaving James feeling very dejected.
"Some weekends it seems that whatever you do, you just can't make
progress," he said. "We pushed hard here but it just wasn't our
weekend, what with problems in the pits and no luck in general on
the track. All of today's problems have cost me points but
they have also cost me the prize money that we needed to secure our
place on the grid for the remainder of the season."
James' next event is Brands Hatch Superleague Formula weekend,
which takes place in just two weeks time.
"Our next race is back on home turf. It's great to have two
home races and I'm keen to get out there and put on a great show
for the home fans so I hope we can be there, running at the
front."