Holmes still manages 9th despite problems | 10.09.07 | 12.17 AKA Cobra racer Chris Holmes had a weekend of problems at the World Series by Renault support meeting at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit this weekend– the fantastic event attended by an incredible 135,000 spectators was Chris' most eargerly antcipated race this year! However a lack of overall team pace in qualifying and technical problems in the races held Chris back to just a single 9th place finish. Starting Race 1 from the 15th Chris made a his usual great start and was up to the top ten by lap 4 and pushing hard! On lap 9 Chris used too much of the exit kerb at Redgate (turn 1) which cracked his rear right suspension joint causing Chris to retire. Race 2, and Chris was starting 13th but another fanastic start saw Holmes reach the top 10 in a few laps however, (Alexander) Sims picked-up a puncture and after a short appearance by the Safety Car to recover two stricken vehicles from the gravel at the Old Hairpin, Chris felt the rear of his car was not right and thought he too may have a puncture, the Yorkshire star carried on regardless struggling with car and just hoping to finish. With Chris ahead of both his team-mates in 8th place, but struggling with problems sensibly opted to let them past rather than risk any coming together and the possibility of losing the points, and managed to finish in 9th place. Reflecting on the weekend the Yorkshire star said: “Wednesday’s test went well for me. The car felt good on old tyres and I was able to spend time learning the Grand Prix loop. I finished the day eighth and was quite happy about that and looked forward to Saturday. The car felt good in qualifying and i did have a good bablance but I struggled to get any more time from the car, and had to settle for 15th and 13th, 0.8 off pole " "I got away well at the start of race one but the car had a bit of understeer so I wasn’t as quick as I would have liked to be but i knew the car would come back in the middle of the race. On around lap nine I ran over the exit kerb at the first corner not much more than usual, and broke my right rear pickup,(suspension part) so all I could do was park it" "Race two was a bit of a strange one another good start and i was up to 8th but after the safety car period my car felt like it was sat down at the rear for some reason, like a puncture. I managed to finish ninth but the car really wasn’t right, the team will have a look at the car when they get it back to the workshop and find out what was wrong, but I was really hoping for a good weekend at Donington but the whole team were outpaced all weekend. Let’s hope for better at Thruxton.” ENDS << back to news