2013-12-09 09:17:19.2
A weekend of mixed weather conditions produced a pair of satisfying results as Eddie impressed on his debut for the mighty Galliard team on Saturday and then went on to secure a top 5 finish on Sunday.
Saturday
The endurance race was held in wet conditions. Eddie was nominated to qualify and set the 11th fastest time. Making a good start, he jumped straight into the top 6 going through the first few corners but was squeezed out at the exit of the second hairpin and dropped back. It didn’t take him long to claw his way back up and by the end of lap 2 he was back inside the top 10.
After a double stint, Paul Williams jumped in for his stint in 5th place. However, an incident with RBB left Williams stationary and lost valuable time. Two spins for Chris Hoyle dropped Galliard out of contention for the podium but still in a position to pick up some valuable points. Eddie was sent out for another double stint at the end of the race and brought the kart home in 7th.
“I’ve got no complaints really. I enjoyed racing with the guys and I think we have the pace to be on the podium this year. It’s a shame that Chris and Paul both had offs but in these conditions it’s almost inevitable. A lot of other teams had spins and black flags as well. The team did a fantastic job; the kart was good and handled well. We did experience quite bad brake fade and I had to spend a few laps deliberately driving through puddles to try and cool them down a bit but other than that I’m happy with my first race.”
Sunday
Another strong qualifying performance saw Eddie secure a 3rd, 2nd and 5th to put him fifth on the grid for the A final. Again making a good start he jumped straight into 3rd off the line and held it for much of the race before being bumped down to fifth by Dan Gore and Jamie Crease.
“To be honest, I was surprised I qualified as low as I did. I expected to be in the top 3 with heats like that but I was happy to be on the inside going into turn one. I struggled with pace during the race. The kart didn’t quite have the grunt of Glen and Daryl and I really had to work hard to stay with them. Once Dan and Jamie got past me it was really just a question of defending and trying not to lose any more places. Fifth is about as good as I could hope for given my lack of pace so I’m quite happy I guess. It gives me some good points towards the championship anyway.”
