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18/08/07 1st Win at Silverstone! |
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Thursday, 04 October 2007 |
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 In august Rafael returned to Silverstone for two more races and was aiming to win both. Once again, the weather was not on anyone's side, with menacing clouds looming over the track on the morning of race day. Several races were taking place just before Rafael's session, but the warm up session started in dry conditions. However, as soon as Qualifying got underway, the heavens opened, making conditions very difficult for all drivers on track. Rafael wanted pole position and got it this time round for just one tenth in his favour! The race was delayed due to the amount of water on track, but finally kicked off with Rafael making once again a great start. However the handling of the car was not as suited to Rafael's driving style after a change in car set up between qualifying and the race. Pettitt managed to get passed Rafael in turn two as Rafael was being too cautious in the opening laps. "This time I'm really dispointed not to have converted this pole position in a win, but with the conditions being as tricky as today, I did not want to comprise race two by being taken out in race one... so I prefered lettting Josh by hoping that my pace would pick up in the later stages of the race... but unfortunately I was not able to get back passed." In race two, the roles were reversed with Pettitt on Pole and Rafael in second place. As the lights went off Rafael was determined that this time he would win and followed Josh for three laps, becoming menacing in Pettitt's mirrors lap after lap. In turn 4, where there was a lot of standing water, Josh was pressured into a mistake and spun off leaving the lead to Rafael who controlled his race from then on and taking his first victory of the season! "Finally I got my win!! I am so delighted! especially with these very difficult conditions! I put on a lot of pressure in the opening laps, which led Josh into making a mistake! from then on I kept my pace under control in order to safely achieve this win!"
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