Race Report - Donington

DigiPlat Racing picked up their first podium of the 2022 season in a thrilling race at Donington Park in the CSCC Liqui Moly Slicks Series. Nathan Wells (solo driving this weekend) bagged 2nd place in class and 5th overall in a solid weekend for the team.

Qualifying

Having been flying in testing on Thursday, Nathan was brimming with confidence heading into Saturday's qualifying session. But the grip level on the track had evolved over the intervening 48 hours, and the car was tricky to drive and extract maximum performance out of. Initially struggling with rear instability on corner exit, the car then struggled to get its nose into the corner later in the session, before the rear instead became loose on entry towards the end. It was a challenging set of circumstances, and Nathan came away with a somewhat disappointing time of 1'37'640, almost 1.5 seconds slower than he had been going in testing despite having fresh tyres on the car.

Despite Nathan's disappointment, the lap was still good enough for a solid 7th on the massive grid, and 2nd in class.

Race

Sunday was the big race day, as the British GT Championship took to the track for their 3 hour headline race, complemented by races from GB4, GB3 and TCRUK. But straight after the GT's, it was time for the CSCC Slicks Series to take centre stage, with DigiPlat Racing starting on the inside of the 4th row, in 7th.

Nathan worked the tyres hard on the green flag lap, and made a good getaway as the lights went out for the rolling start. He pulled alongside the Amspeed BMW M3 of Aaron Moulton-Smith and Mark Smith in front, but despite a brave effort to get past, ended up with two wheels on the grass. Making the wise decision to back out of it, Nathan tucked in behind the Amspeed M3 and took a tight line through turn one. Fast starting Matty Evans had sent one round the outside into Redgate though, relegating DigiPlat to 8th. But further down the order, it was all kicking off: Kevin Riley had speared his Lotus into the pit wall as he pulled onto the start/finish straight, while Dominic Malone's BMW M3 E90 WTCC went off into the gravel at turn one. Further down the circuit, one of the gaggle of Porsche 911's competing in the race ran wide at the Craner Curves and spun off into the countryside.

A safety car was both necessary and inevitable, and the race ran in procession for the next 15 minutes. Finally though we were underway again, with Nathan making an average getaway and having to defend from Darren Fielding's similar BMW M3 E46 GTR behind. Nathan solidified his position, but couldn't get past either Matty Evans' BMW 1M or David Foster's McLaren 570S GT4 before the pitstop window beckoned. Having been burned for a short stop at Thruxton, DigiPlat decided to play it conservative this time. This meant that Fielding leapfrogged Wells in the order, but Roger Lavender - having taken over the Woodrow Motorsport BMW 1M from Matty Evans - had a spin on his outlap that cost him time. The net result was DigiPlat emerged from the pitstop phase of the race in 6th, thanks to other cars running into trouble in front.

Nathan got his head down and was catching Fielding in front and building a gap over Lavender behind, setting several consistently fast laps that were quicker than his best qualifying time. A quick set-up change in the pits (stiffening the driver-adjustable anti-roll bars) had brought the car back towards its sweet spot, and Nathan was again going well.

But before Wells could mount a challenge on Fielding, traffic began to play a role! Nathan scythed past the initial cars he encountered, but a particularly stubborn Aston Martin Vantage GT4 cost him several seconds. The Aston was clearly unaware he was being lapped, and decided to fight the DigiPlat M3 like it was for the F1 world championship, making several "interesting" late moves in braking zones. Nathan finally found a way past, sweeping round the outside at the Craner Curves, but the damage was done: Fielding had escaped.

More pressing was the need to defend from Lavender behind, as the Aston's robust attempts to avoid being lapped had backed the DigiPlat M3 back into the Woodrow 1M. The next pack of backmarkers was a group of Porsche 911 cup cars. Nathan quickly caught them, but it was another case of having to put a risky move on them through a corner, as the 911's were too fast down the straights to make it easy. Having almost touched at the Fogarty Esses, Nathan dived down the inside at the Melbourne hairpin while Lavender was boxed to the outside.

And that turned out to be the final lap of the race! P6 overall and P3 in class, which quickly became P5 overall and P2 in class thanks to a 30s post-race penalty for Fielding for a pitstop infringement. A solid day at the office for DigiPlat Racing, in what was an eventful race at Donington Park.

The team are back out again in a matter of days, racing at Brands Hatch on the Jubilee Bank Holiday Friday (June 3rd), where the M3 will race in a 40 minute CSCC Slicks Series race, a 40 minute New Millennium Series race, and a 15 minute sprint race in the Open Series.