Rounds 3 & 4, Croft (10th/11th November 2006)
The weekend at Croft started better than it did at Brands Hatch. Although Neb had never driven at the Croft circuit before, that was not a big issue. Neb had a trouble-free test day where he could learn the circuit and do a lot of laps. At the end of the day he was feeling comfortable and ready for qualifying.
However, luck was not on his side again when it started raining just before the qualifying. The conditions were tricky as the circuit was dump and wet on sum parts and dry on the other parts. Neb had never driven a car in the wet before or under those dump conditions, so everything was new to him again. Different teams were running different tires and setups of the car and there was drama until the last second of the qualifying. Despite the inexperience Neb qualified 18th out of 30 cars.
Neb said after the qualifying, “ It would have been better had I driven the car under those conditions before but it did not bother me at all…I saw it as another test session and just focused on doing my best. I could have even gone quicker and 18th is not the best I could have done, but considering I have only done 12 laps, it is good.”
For race one, the circuit was dry on most parts but dump on some other parts. The team and Neb did not want to risk so they put him on slicks but with the wet weather setup on the car. It proved to be good in the first part of the race where the slick tiers and wet weather setup combination worked well. Neb was running 14th but then as the race was reaching the second phase, he was struggling heat in the tyres and with the straight line speed on the straights due to the wet weather setup. So Neb lost a few places and finished the race in 18th place.
“I am pretty pleased with this race, I knew from the beginning that I could do well in the first part of the race but later on would straggle with the tires and speed a bit.” Neb carried on, “and that is what happened, but I am happy with the progress we have made and the car felt great. I am starting to feel really comfortable in the car now as I could drive 6 laps in a row within a tenth of a second. The lap times were not representative as we were on a different set up compared to the others, but I am positive for race 2 and know we can go much quicker.”
In race 2, there were horrific conditions with showers, rain and puddles everywhere on the circuit. It would have been probably easier to drive a speed boat rather than a Formula Renault car! As expected, the race was really exciting where lots of cars were spinning and having troubles to stay on the circuit. Neb had to cope with the unknown conditions again, where he proved to be a quick learner once again. He managed to stay away from accidents, improve his lap times lap after lap and finish the race first time in the wet in 21st position.
“I have never seen anything like this before. I know if this was a test under those conditions I wouldn’t be driving the car as there would be no point but, of course, as it was a race I had to. The visibility was awful, spray from the cars everywhere, paddles and water on the circuit everywhere...It was crazy driving like that…but also it was fun too. I am glad I have experienced something like that and am happy to have finished this race”.
Overall standing: 4 races, 21st place (16 points)
