DELIVERS WEEKEND BEST TOP 10 ON ZANDVOORT DEBUT
British racing driver Josh Caygill concluded his maiden visit to Zandvoort with a weekend best top 10 finish during round eight of the Audi Sport TT Cup on Sunday, 17th July, to retain ninth place in the championship standings – just five points shy of the series top eight.
Despite a tough qualifying session on his maiden visit to the Dutch track on Saturday, 16th July, the 27-year-old from Netherton in West Yorkshire battled through from 14th on the grid in a shortened seventh round to finish in 12th position.
Beginning Sunday morning’s contest from the seventh row of the grid once again, Josh produced a very competitive drive and during a highly dramatic final couple of laps managed to break into the top 10 – taking the chequered flag just 0.3 seconds shy of ninth place. With a big improvement in pace across the weekend, he posted a best lap time of 1m49.938 seconds, a match for top six pace.
“I was definitely happier after race two”, said the second year Audi competitor, “When you qualify in 14th place you’ve nailed your own coffin to be honest, especially round a track like Zandvoort where overtaking is hard. To be fair it was a difficult weekend from start to finish, and I left too much hard work to do after qualifying. But we did improve through the weekend so that was positive.”
Making a good start to Saturday’s race from 14th on the grid, Josh held the inside line through the right-hander at Tarzan to emerge in 13th place but, just ahead to his left, a rival’s Audi was pitched onto the grass and came back across the circuit causing a multi-car collision which also resulted in a red flag stoppage. Fortunately for Josh, he managed to avoid being caught up in the incident.
Officials re-started the race around 20 minutes later behind the Safety Car, over a reduced duration of eight laps. With Josh in 13th place to begin, when the Safety Car entered the pits and racing proper got back underway he swiftly moved into the top 12.
Midway through lap three, Josh saw an opportunity to try and attack Pavel Lefterov for 11th at the chicane but had to tuck back in to 12th place. Staying there for the rest of the contest frustratingly bottled up behind his ultra-defensive rival, just 0.4 seconds split the pair at the chequered flag.
“I was disappointed with race one to be honest”, reflected Josh, “I didn’t use the ‘push-to-pass’ system enough over the first couple of laps to try and gain early track position, we did move up the order but not enough. Then I got stuck behind Lefterov and that was that over such a short race.”
The start to Sunday morning’s eighth round was briefly delayed as a result of a car leaving the circuit on the green flag lap. After a second formation lap, racing got underway with Josh making a good start from the seventh row of the grid to climb into the top 12 through the first corner.
Glued to Gosia Rdest’s Audi into lap two, the West Yorkshireman pressured his rival heavily with just 0.2 seconds separating the pair. An error from American racer Paul Holton on the third tour elevated Josh into 11th position, still right behind Rdest, and they continued to circulate in close quarters.
As the action just ahead began to intensify, Josh and Rdest were able to close on the multi-car battle at the fringe of the top six with just three seconds separating half a dozen cars. On lap 10, Josh was edged back to 12th place again but he remained close behind the trio of cars ahead.
Then, on the penultimate tour, contact between Rdest and Lefterov into Turn Two resulted in the former’s car going off the circuit and when Rdest rejoined the track down the hill into the hairpin there was additional contact between the pair.
As a result, Josh was able to profit and he threaded his way through the chaos to climb into the top 10. Running closely behind Rdest’s car to the finish on lap 13, the Briton ended the encounter just 0.3 seconds shy of ninth place at the flag.
He commented: “We didn’t have out and out pace, but I was happy with my own performance in race two. I raced pretty well and battled hard with Gosia [Rdest] trying to find a way past, but it was mission impossible basically when we were both behind Lefterov. I could have been a bit more aggressive after the incident to get into ninth, but we could equally have ended up in the barrier!”
There is now a lengthy eight-week summer break for the Audi Sport TT Cup competitors with rounds nine and 10 of the season marking a return to the Nurburgring in Germany for the second time this year, over the weekend 10th/11th September.
2016 Audi Sport TT Cup Driver Standings (after Rd8):9th Josh Caygill, 72pts
Charity:Through his motor racing Josh helps to support and promote Wooden Spoon – the children’s charity of rugby. Founded in 1983, the charity has been making a difference to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people since that time. Wooden Spoon is one of the largest funders of respite and medical treatment centres, sensory enhancement therapeutic facilities, specialist playgrounds, sports activity areas and community-based programmes. For more information visit www.woodenspoon.com
