With the Monaco Grand Prix comes the start of the Formula 1600 season. Both are scheduled on the same weekend, however, in different parts of the world and both are also guaranteed to bring action and excitement. This weekend was no different, however, for the first time, there were no red flags and all events were clean!
Duncan, Jim and Corey arrived Thursday evening with the truck to set up the tent and get things in order. My father and I decided to arrive Friday afternoon after the practice sessions. There was some work to be done on the car. We managed to get everything organized for the next day, which entailed a practice, qualifying and the first race of the season.
The practice went relatively well. The qualifying saw no red or yellow flags. Duncan qualified fifth, which we were thrilled about. We did not have much to do to the car, which was a relief, as the temperature was four degrees. A few of us stayed in the truck for a couple of hours to keep warm. During the race, we realized the car sounded a little off. This reminded me of another instance, during the Grand Prix, where we had a similar problem. I called it and unfortunately, I was right. Duncan was progressively losing power throughout the race, but he did have a fantastic race against a talented young race driver. It was a battle for 7th place for them, however, the young driver finished ahead of us. After the race, we quickly figured out the problem and we fixed it immediately so we could be ready for Sunday.
Sunday was a better qualifying and race. The track was wet,as it had been raining all night and morning. It was also very cold. I had joked around, saying that this would be the day we would freeze to death. During qualifying, Duncan was going faster and faster every lap as the track dried. At the end, we found out Duncan qualified third! We were so excited... the Go Pro camera we attached to the car would validate this! During the race, there was a very long battle with another racer for sixth place. However, after a late spin on the third to last lap, Duncan finished in ninth place.
I am happy to announce that despite finishing in eighth and ninth place, we remained consistent and ended up in the top ten. It was the first race of the season and we can only go up from here. We will see what we can do during the next race...at the Canadian Grand Prix!
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