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Problems cost Championship glory
4th December 2011
After the dramas of the previous round, Ryan and Derrick headed to the Estoril circuit in Portugal for round 8 of the European VdeV Championship. They were still in with a chance of winning the series but it was going to be very difficult.
Testing went well whilst the track stayed dry - the number 45 Ligier was 6th quickest in both sessions and quickest in their class. Both drivers were very optimistic with the pace of the car. Practice sessions 3 and 4 were a wash out so there was no point risking the car as weather forcasts looked good for the Saturday. So it was an early finish for the day.
Saturday morning and qualifying was at 9am - the circuit was still wet from the previous day's rain and remembering from experience in 2010, Ryan knew the track would stay wet for the whole 1 hour qualifying session. Estoril is one track that takes a very long time to dry.
It was decided that Ryan would go first to put in a banker lap time, which he did, and he returned to the pits after 6 laps lying in 7th place ready for Derrick to put in more laps to really dial himself into the conditions in case it rained again.
Sadly the car cut out when Derrick was exiting the pits and it took a while for it to be towed back to the garage. As the problem was being fixed, the circuit was slowly getting faster and when the car was ready to re-join the session there were only 15 mintes to go, so Ryan jumped in to try to better the position of 14th - which he did to 10th and 3rd in class.
For the first time of the year, the race was held on the same day as qualifying which meant it was a mad rush for the team to re-prep the cars and have them ready for a 6 hour race. Ryan started the race and was very confident of making a good start. He knew this was important because he didn't want to lose too much ground to the leading cars and that they had a good strategic plan - the duo were looking for a podium result overall.
The lights went out and by the time the cars exited the first corner, Ryan had made a fantastic start from 10th to 5th and then went on to settle in 6th position for the first 35 minutes of the race. Then sadly the first problem was to show its face - the front left hub which holds the wheel on came lose. Fortunately it didn't happen in a fast corner and Ryan was able to recover the car back to the pits to be fixed. But by the time the car re-joined the track the number 45 Ligier had lost 7 laps and from then it was always going to be a struggle.
Ryan completed his 2 hour stint and handed over to Derrick in 13th position. It wasn't long before the second problem occurred - when Derrick was leaving the pit lane he got as far as the third corner and the car cut out again. It took ages for the car to be recovered and towed back to the garage and this was going to be a long stop. It was a wiring fault and proved difficult to find at first, and then the starter motor needed replacing as well. Derrick was wondering if he'd actually do a lap of the track on race day.
The team worked as fast as they could to fix the problems but by the time the car was ready to go back out on to the track the race was over for the duo. Ryan said to Derrick, go out and enjoy the last 2 hours of the race and have some fun.
Unfortunately, there was to be a third problem which would end the race and the year for the two drivers. 40 minutes in to Derricks 2 hour stint, the rear left hub came off, which caused the rear wheel to go under the back of the car and launch Derrick up in the air for a big crash. Derrick later described it as being more scary than the fire he experienced last time out at Magny Cours.
It was a sad end to the year with the events that took place in the last two races of the year. These were the only two events where the number 45 Ligier hadn't scored any points and it cost them the championship win.
Next year Ryan and Derrick plan to do the UK Speed Euro VdeV series as they have done the full European VdeV series for the last three years, and fancy a new challenge together.