Grant continues run of top-10 finishes with strong Brands Hatch weekend‏

George Grant continued to put pressure on those above him in the Max5 Championship, with another pair of top-10 finishes at Brands Hatch (July 30-31) in his Paul Sheard-run Mazda MX-5.

After showing promising pace when he tested at the Kent-based circuit prior to the weekend, George enjoyed a great qualifying session that saw him post the sixth-fastest lap time in wet conditions.

In Race One, George got off to a good start before quickly engaging in a tightly contested battle with Andrew Pretorius. It remained close throughout the 21-laps, but the Kingston-upon-Thames ace wasn’t able to find a way past and he crossed the line in eighth.

“Qualifying went really well actually,” said George. “I felt good in the car despite not being completely happy with the set-up and the extremely slippery track conditions.

“I had another strong start, but I wasn’t happy on the tyres and it was difficult for me to find a way back through on Andrew after he’d got past me. It was a fantastic battle, there were a few moments that were close to the line, but overall it was fair. However, I felt we were better than where we finished.”

Lining up in P8 for the second race, George made another one of his signature fast-starts as he looked to better his result from the first event.

He climbed up to sixth in the early stages, but was hit in the rear by Matthew Tidmarsh, causing his #69 car to go off the road. The incident saw him drop back a few positions, but he was able to hang on to finish tenth.

“It was another good start for us, that’s probably been one of the biggest positives for us this weekend,” George continued. “Unfortunately, I was tagged in the rear by Tidmarsh as he tried to pass me and I lost a few positions.

“As a whole, the weekend went okay, we got a decent haul of points and I had a couple of good on-track battles. However, I’m not entirely happy with the Nankang tyres that we’re able to use for race weekends. The 180 compound tyres really limit what you can do in the car and I’d feel much more competitive if we were given back the opportunity to run with the 100 compounds.

“I’d like to say a big thanks to Paul Sheard and the team. They did a terrific job earlier this month repairing my car after I had a pretty big crash in the Supercup at Brands Hatch and they continued to work incredibly hard here.”

The result means that he holds station in ninth place in the Max5 standings with two rounds remaining. George will travel to Donington Park (27-28 August) next for the sixth round of the Mazda Supercup.

This season George is raising funds and awareness for the Coming Home campaign, which provides housing assistance to ex-service personnel and their families. They build specially adapted homes, which are tailored to the needs of those in desperate need of housing following a traumatic or life-changing injury. Coming Home is the latest fundraising campaign from Haig Housing, which is a strategic partner of Help for Heroes.

Coming Home:Haig Housing’s latest fundraising campaign, Coming Home, offers a wide range of housing assistance and options for ex-Service personnel and their families. These specially adapted homes have been tailored to suit the needs of those in desperate need of housing following a traumatic or life-changing injury.“Our task is to fix up these brave young men and women so that they are capable of leading the rest of their lives,” explains Help for Heroes founder Bryn Parry, who fully supports the campaign. “That’s where Coming Home can help. They provide them with somewhere appropriate and decent to live.”Coming Home: taking over where Help for Heroes finishesHaig Housing, along with Combat Stress, is a strategic partner of Help for Heroes. As such, the charity dedicated to helping those wounded in British conflicts looks to Haig Housing for support after their work is done. As specialists in their field, Haig Housing is the ideal candidate to provide assistance in housing the serving and ex-Service personnel in specially adapted homes. With many costing somewhere between £150,000 and £300,000, their work relies on donations from the general public.Haig Housing and Coming Home have already provided many badly injured ex-Service men and women with a home for life. Read their stories today and see the contribution your donation could make to others.Please visit www.coming-home.org.uk for more information