Hand's return to Mallory Park doesn't go to plan

Last year's visit to Mallory Park saw Crawley teenager Charlie Hand take his first podium finish in the Junior Saloon Car Championship, so hopes were high on his return to the Leicestershire circuit.
Charlie Hand goes for glory at Mallory ParkCharlie Hand goes for glory at Mallory Park
Charlie Hand goes for glory at Mallory Park

Qualifying didn’t quite go according to plan as he was only fifth quickest for the first race of the day.

“I thought I would be alright after a good practice session. But it was the luck of the draw, how it worked out. I had gap and was doing OK until it was red flagged, but then I couldn’t get any space,” he explained.

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It was a good clean start to the race though, slotting into fourth, but more importantly part of an early four-car break.

Going through the gears at MalloryGoing through the gears at Mallory
Going through the gears at Mallory

He began to put the pressure on third placed Ashley Gregory, but after a trip over the grass at the Esses on lap three, he lost a bit of ground on the trio ahead.

Four laps later and it was another grassy excursion, which left him under pressure to retain his place from Alex Solley.

But with red flags flying for a premature end, he was still fourth in the final classification, having missed out on a podium by 0.309 secs.

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“I had under-steer from the start and began to overdrive to compensate. I had one chance to challenge Ashley at the Esses, but then there was a yellow flag and Alex started to attack me. A tough race though,” he said.

It was fifth again on the grid for the second race and as the lights went out, he quickly snatched fourth but the top three had already started to escape.

But as they came through to complete the second lap there was chaos in the midfield and red flags were out again.

So lining up again for the restart, it was an excellent start, ousting Ben Greenhill for third before challenging Gregory for second at the Hairpin.

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Once again it all came to nought as the race reached lap three. More cars in the lower order had collided and it was red flag number three, but they were the least of Charlie’s problems.

As the red flags came out he was hard on the heels of Lewis Saunders and Gregory and was unsighted as they arrived at the Esses. As they both braked, he was forced to brake harder, which put his car sideways, before a touch to the grass sent him into the barriers, and back across the track for a second impact.

“That impact was over 90mph, but they seemed to stop so suddenly and seeing the flag late I had little time to respond,” he explained.

With a second re-start planned at the end of the programme, the Westbourne crew set about trying to fix the severely damaged car. They didn’t make it out on the grid, which was of little consequence in the end as it was red flagged yet again at the start.

by Peter Scherer for Charlie Hand with Westbourne Motorsport

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