So, after an extremely successful round one at Santapod, what would FIA round two bring to Andy and the team in Finland?

On the journey out to Finland there were many discussions about how the weekend would pan out. After the Studes consistency in round one, and we were quietly confident we would also do well in Finland however previous years have shown anything can happen.

The weekend started with the first qualifying session being rained out which immediately causes more pressure on all of teams as the less track time available means it’s even harder to qualify.  As the Pro mods were called to the start line it became clear that we were the first professional car class to go down the track, which is less than ideal. Unfortunately in the first two pairs, two separate crashes occurred. Of course an immediate reaction is to think that the track wasn’t up to standard however after assessing the track we couldn’t see a big problem with it. This was not the worse track we had raced on and the crew were happy to continue with running. The two crashes were in no way connected and were an unfortunate coincidence that they happened one after another. However after seeing a few cars get a bit ‘loose’ at the top end, the crew decided to put in a bit more wing to provide more stability through the finish line. This seemed to make a noticeable difference.

After watching the whole pack we saw very few cars manage to get down the track only two cars managed to run faster than 6.4. Andy lit the tires for a long burnout and backed the car up ready for the run. First qualifier was against Urban Johansson. Both cars put in great passes with Urban clocking 6.28 and Andy pipping him to the finish line with a 6.22 to take number 1 qualifier. What a great first round! We were all thrilled but looking at the data log and speaking to Andy showed that there was an electrical issue and the engine actually cut of early. This was a shame as it potentially meant that it could have been a much faster pass. The crew checked the electrics and believed to have fixed the problem ready for day 2 of qualifying.  

On the 2nd qualifying pass the Stude hit some extremely violent tireshake which wrote off the run, moments before Mats Eriksson and Urban Johansson both bettered they’re times which resulted in us qualifying in 3rd place.

After getting back to the pits and anaylsing the video footage it was clear that when launching, the Stude didn’t get up on the tire, causing tireshake. With more launch RPM we were optimistic this would fix the problem for our third and final run. Unfortunately the rain started to come down just as we were due to race and ended the day’s qualifying. The worst part of not having that third run was the fact that race day came around and we didn’t feel we knew enough about the track to make informed decisions of our set up, however everyone was in a similar boat so we just had to trust our instincts and the data we had collected from the last two runs.

Our first round was against Norwegian Terje Hakonsen. We were in the middle of the pack and saw many of the top guys choose the left lane, originally we were going with the right lane but after much deliberation we decided to change and this decision worked in our favour, we won the race with a respectable 6.18. However when getting to the top end Andy again mentioned an early cut off, which meant our electrical problem wasn’t completely solved. The crew changed a few other electrical parts to solve the problem once and for all.
 
Our second round was due to be against Patrik Wikstrom, a very strong competitor who ran very low into the 6.1’s at the Main Event. Patrick however had low oil pressure in the first round and due to this was unable to race. Leaving us with a bye run into the semi finals. Although it was only a bye run we continued as if it was a race and ran a respectful pass with a 6.20. No early cut off which was positive, but also this pass rewarded us lane choice for the next round.

The competition was now hotting up and we were against Michael Gullqvist. The crew decided to run in the left lane, feeling this was the better of the two, and although Michael struggled with this lane, we had our own problems leaving Michael to take the win.

Low oil pressure in the burnout caused Andy and the crew to worry whether there was a potential problem on they’re hands. Revving the engine brought the oil pressure up and the crew were happy to continue into stage. Unfortunately the track conditions had changed and our set up was too aggressive, causing the stude to smoke the tires which cost us the race.  Although we were disappointed not to continue to the final we were proud of qualifying 3rd and getting to the final 4 cars out of 20. We also have a car and engine in one piece which is very important when racing competitively fast.
The RRC team are leading the points by around 1.5 rounds, and we are confident for Sweden in 3 weeks time.

On a Personal note we were also very pleased and proud of how well the crew worked together, unfortunately one of our long standing crew members Jerry was unable to attend this meeting and will also be sitting out for Sweden. However, temporary crew member Scott Barnes and crew member Ryan Hare stepped up and filled in brilliantly. The weekend went without a hitch and everyone’s passion and hard work made this possible. Although we couldn’t recreate Jerry’s entertainment,  his consistent texting to ensure he knew the latest on how we were doing kept his presence with us (and also the Brut Thomas wore in tribute to our missing member!)

We are looking forward to a few weekends at home to recharge our batteries for the fight in Sweden! See you there!