Racing

Silverstone Mar 2006

Another year and another season and the CSL-GT returned, freshly rebuilt after the 24hr with several modifications to iron out problems encountered last season. Tony Rodriguez paired up this time with Phil Hopkins, ex-Formula 3 driver who used to race against Juan Pablo Montoya! The Silverstone International circuit was dry and sunny for qualifying, though a few minor issues resulted in only 7 laps of running and a disappointed qualification in 15th with a time of 1:32.021 and a 6th placing in class. Phil started the race and performed stupendously, pulling the car up into the top ten. Just a few laps before handing over to Tony, he became tangled in a shunt with a Ferrari. Damage was cosmetic and relatively minor, though 15 minutes or so where lost while it was fixed to a level suitable for the scrutineers to allow the car back out. Tony took over, but here was little he could do as the nearest car was a good 5 laps ahead. We finished 15th overall, with a best lap of 1:39.858 which was 10th fastest overall. Not the start to the season we had hoped for, but that's racing!