Date: 04.04.10
James Walker had a tough initiation into the world of
Superleague Formula at Silverstone this weekend. He showed
great pace, taking third place in qualifying and running well in
the early stages of both races but the ultimate results just
weren't there for the taking today.
James got all the way through to the semi-finals of the
football-style qualifying sessions, earning himself a second row
grid spot for the first of today's two main races.
"The conditions were tricky for the first race," said James. "I
lost a place during the rolling start but I got it straight back
coming out of Copse and was able to hold onto third. The
track was still a bit damp so it was slippery on slicks and
unfortunately I was caught out by a wet kerb at Club. I spun and
was unable to catch it before it stalled and that was the end of
race one for me."
The good news though was that James would start the second race
from pole position. He got a very good start this time but
then didn't get a clean exit out of Becketts which gave second
place man Sebastian Bourdais a run on him down to Stowe.
James settled into second place, maintaining a good gap back to
third but a few laps later he hit a bump while approaching the new
Abbey chicane, which spun him around.
"I managed to keep the engine running the second time," he
said. "I caught up with the back of the pack but then a few
laps later, when I came in for my mandatory pit-stop, something
broke. I lost all drive so that was the end of my
race."
James was down but definitely not out.
"I'm extremely disappointed with the results today," he said.
"There have been many times in my career though where I have had a
bad first race and then bounced back. It happened last year
at the first World Series round in Barcelona but then we went to
Spa and I won. I will have to fight back at Assen. I've not
been there before but it's fun to learn new tracks so I'm looking
forward to getting stuck in there and getting my Superleague season
going."