His Championship title hopes may have been over, but Brunel University student David Pittard headed to the Kent based circuit of Brands Hatch determined to leave his mark on the final round of the Sports 2000 Championship as it supported the famous Formula Ford Festival. With the disappointment of the last 2 rounds firmly behind him, Pittard was as confident as ever, and set about settling for nothing less than an outright win.
“I was really fired up for Brands Hatch as it was the last round” commented David. “Unfortunately, due to the 2 recent mechanical failures we had lost out on the Championship, meaning I had nothing to lose and could really go for the win. Supporting the famous Formula Ford Festival was always going to be an awesome experience. Racing in front of such a large and enthusiastic crowd was set to be one of the high lights of the year.”
Knowing that to fulfil his ambition of an outright win, pole on the grid would be critical, the Herts young gun was totally committed heading onto the track.
“Qualifying was very busy. With this being my first time out on track in the car, and with the volume of traffic it was hard to find a rhythm. I finally managed to get in a reasonable lap and secured pole in my class, and P3 overall. It was a frustrating session, with overall pole a real possibility, but after a lot of analysis of the video and data I knew where I could improve.”
With slight improvements to the car made, and a hard fought strategy for the race decided, the Letchworth based race star headed confidently to the grid for his final Sports 2000 race of the year. Following a good start, he was glued to the bumper of the leader, however despite the changes to the set up, his Swift SC92 quickly started suffering from overheating rear tyres, causing an exponential increase in oversteer. Despite this, and using all his razor sharp car control, David managed to cross the finish line a creditable 3rd in class, and round of the season with another podium and bout of silverware to reward the team.
“The race was a hard fought battle“ said Pittard. “I made a good start and stuck right on the leaders rear end. I held 2nd for 2 laps but then lost 2 places in 2 corners after a bad exit. I continued to battle with the following pack, causing me to lose ground to first place. After getting in free space I didn’t quite have the pace to catch the leader, and the rear started to overheat as they did in qualifying, meaning the car was quickly getting worse. Annoyingly, this left me vulnerable to the cars behind and despite my best efforts, I lost ground and dropped to 3rd in class where we remained to the flag.”
What would have been embraced by any other driver on the grid as a sterling effort considering the cars handling, David’s tireless pursuit of winning left him somewhat despondent with the result, but the Herts Business Support Scheme driver was quick to focus on his preparation for 2012 – one in which he will settle for nothing less than a Championship title.
“A frustrating and disappointing end to the season” he reflected. “Despite this, we have had a really successful season, only finishing off the podium once all year. Again a huge thanks to my team and sponsors for making this year happen. I am looking forward to the off season with some very promising discussions taking place for 2012. I can’t wait, and will be back in the gym and simulator first thing Monday morning to start preparations.”
