Team B&Q Jet York City Racing arrived at Brands Hatch for the first event of the season with just a single car, the second Honda Accord still in preparation. Jim Edwards took the car out for it's first real test on Saturday, hoping to run through a range of set up changes to dial the car in for the weekend's racing. Unfortunately, early in the session, Jim entered the notorious Paddock Hill bend and got the car sideways, ultimately barrel-rolling the car in the gravel trap.
The team was kept busy on Saturday repairing the damage, but the loss of track-time was felt on Sunday's qualifying session, our car ending up 9th and 10th on the grid for the two races. "At the moment, Jim finds the car's handling too unstable so we've made the necessary changes to sort that out," said Peter, acting as the team's Test & Development Driver. "The goal is to get Jim comfortable in the car so he can push on."
With several changes made after qualifying, we had high expectations of a good result on race day. Sure enough minutes after the lights changed to green for the Sprint Race on Easter Monday, the Production Class Alfa Romeo 156s came together at Graham Hill bend, resulting in multiple retirements. As Jim came upon the incident he was able to avoid the spinning cars and debris, driving through to take fourth place which he was able to maintain to the chequered flag, much to the delight of the team and the BandQsi!
The Feature Race was next, and with little time to prepare, still more changes were made to the suspension to adjust the car to Jim's liking. The rolling start presented no problems and after a few laps, Jim was able to circulate in a comfortable fourth place inherited after yet more incidents, this time between the Production Class BMWs and the Hondas. However, the car unfortunately ground to a halt due to a fuel line failure with just 9 laps to go, the prospect of a potential podium finish cruelly snatched away!
"We'll be back up there. We know what the cars need to be competitive and we're working flat out to put it all together for Oulton Park in three weeks time".
