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The team suffered yet another dismal day at Rye House as they limped home nearly dead last after a series of troubles during the race. This is the fourth consecutive race that the team have failed to finish inside the top 20.
Aside from a small mixture adjustment in practice, the kart was set up well and all hopes were for an improvement in their recent poor run of form. Despite this, Eddie Hall could manage no better than 20th in qualifying after admitting to not getting the speed out of the kart everywhere.
Eddie also started the race and made several places off the line and in his early laps. He also benefited from being one of the last of the midfielders to pit.
There was a slight confusion at the first driver change as Seth tried to signal for Eddie to stay out at the last minute and was then in the wrong place when Eddie pushed Ian out for his stint.
Ian kept up the pace and rejoined the track in 16th place. He seemed to be driving quickly and consistently and making up steady ground, pitting from just outside the top 10 before handing over to Seth.
There was more pit lane drama as Eddie had to run and retrieve Seth’s immense 10 tonnes of lead, which again cost them several seconds in the pits.
Despite this delay, the team were now knocking on the door of the top 10 and had high hopes of coming away with a half decent result. Alas, this is where their luck changed. Seth seemed to be struggling out on track and lost several places. He then made an unscheduled pit stop after only 13 minutes complaining of fuel surge.
Entering the pits too hot, he clipped the fuel rig and the team had to make a 30 second stop and go penalty as a result. Eddie also lost a few seconds coming out of the pits because his overalls weren’t done up properly! The unscheduled fuel stop also meant the team were in danger of having to make an extra fuel stop so they had to run dangerously low on fuel for the remainder of the race.
Eddie’s second stint was uneventful, driving on the limit to make up for lost time. Ian’s second stint was mired by two spins and ending with a communications breakdown on the pit wall and mechanical failure entering the pits, which prompted a change into a spare kart. The trio then had to carry the kart over to the fuel bay before sending Seth out for the last stint. To rub salt into the wound, the new kart wouldn’t fire and stalled at the pit lane exit!
Seth struggled badly in his last stint, complaining that the engine was cutting out at low revs. He had to endure a nightmare final few laps before finally crossing the line nearly last. The team were helped by the fact that 3 teams were disqualified for being underweight, which promoted IMSD Racing up to 27th. |
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