Testing debut at Croft for Team Viking
23 May 2019
Car failure in first stint costs the team a solid finish
Despite a difficult five-hour race at Croft Circuit, Team Viking will take away the positives
Croft Circuit in County Durham hosted the Fun Cup for the first time since Team Viking joined the series. Drivers Nick Nunn and Mark Holme were keen to test the track which has a great variety of open flowing corners, tight hairpins and long straights.
However, a mistake – which Holme put down to driver error – cost him and his team a strong, competitive finish. “We started 23rd out of 25 on the grid and I was to take the first stint,” he explained. “I had managed to get the car up to 15th and as I was exiting the hairpin towards the start/finish straight, I pushed too hard and the drive shaft broke.”
Despite such an early substantial setback, the skilled mechanics and technicians began work on the car as soon as Holme brought it into the pits. The technical team were able to repair Car 110 in just 12 minutes, returning Nunn to the wet track to continue racing.
With only 30 minutes of the five-hour race under their belts, Team Viking were eight laps down in wet and windy conditions. Both Nunn and Holme continued to drive aggressively, keeping pace with the front runners. But the early setback effectively relinquished any podium hopes, only giving them a handicap of eight laps. Ultimately the team was only able to bring the car home in 15th.
“It’s a shame becuase we got to grips with the wet really well,” said Holme. “We’ve got the pace and we’re good drivers, we’ve just seem to be having a bad season at the moment,” he added.
Next up for Team Viking and Car 110 is the Zandvoort double-header, which sees two three-hour races over the weekend. The team will be looking favourably at the Dutch circuit, where they collected a podium visit during the 2018 season.