Matt Chapman was once again left rueing what could have been after seeing leading practice pace go unfulfilled during a tough Ginetta Junior Championship outing at Snetterton.
Chapman got his visit to Norfolk off to a perfect start by topping the timesheets in Friday testing, which he followed up with the second fastest time in Saturday’s practice session.
Unfortunately the Total Control Racing ace saw his best lap time in qualifying deleted for exceeding track limits, meaning he was restricted to eighth on the grid for the opening race.
That ended up putting him right in the middle of the a multi-car incident that unfolded at the Montreal hairpin on the opening lap, with a hit from behind spinning him around and seeing him heavily collected by another car.
Ruled out of the race on the spot, Chapman would have to start the second race of the weekend from the back of the grid.
Picking his way through another opening lap incident at the hairpin, Chapman was into the top fifteen by the end of the lap and continued to make ground to eleventh at the finish – a thirteen place rise from his grid position.
“Fastest on Friday in testing was great and after being up there again in practice, we were pretty sure qualifying would be good,” said Chapman.
“Unfortunately, my best lap was taken away but from eighth we should still have been able to fight for a good result. I didn’t see what happened in race one, a few cars made contact further back and then I just got hit from behind.”
“To make up 13 places in race two, in only six laps, was good going – I’m really happy with that performance and it shows what we can do. We’ve shown again this weekend we’ve definitely got the pace.”
