Slightly different as the weekend consisted of two one-hour races, instead of four, thirty-minute sprints. Both late afternoon. Meaning, after Friday’s practice and qualifying the team had time to relax, and even go sightseeing.
Assen is situated in the northern top corner of the Netherlands, near the sea and close to the German border. Also, it’s not that far from Denmark which probably accounts for the full grid, some drivers bringing their families and making the meeting part of their annual holiday. As a result, the paddock was less stuffy, really friendly, and altogether, a great place to be.
Back to the racing. Harry started Saturday’s race third on the grid but finished scoring maximum points. ‘We couldn’t have asked for more.’ Sadly, petty track limit infringements during qualifying for the second race relegated Harry to a very lowly and somewhat lonely twenty-fifth in the grid line-up. With nothing to lose Harry was on a charge, and at half distance was only a couple of seconds behind rival driver, and current Championship leader, Marlon Birdsall. This distance was further reducing, until a handling discrepancy intervened, and with discretion (and points) being more important than valour he backed off, content to be runner-up after what had been a decidedly tough sixty minutes.
There now comes a break until 11/12 September when attention turns to Germany and the tight Hockenheimring situated in the Rhine valley. In the meantime, with just three races left on the calendar, the car now receives a welcome refresh. A couple of extra bhp would be more than acceptable.
