WHITLEYS PHILLIP ISLAND DEBUT

blog post

June 10, 2019

Alexandra Whitley

photo credit: Daniel Kalisz

The second round of the Australian TCR Series was held at the world famous Phillip Island GP Circuit over the weekend of the 7th, 8th and 9th of June. We had our best result yet finishing 9th in race 2.

Unfortunately our weekend was cut short when we got tangled up in a first turn incident on the first lap of the final race of the weekend.

To prepare for Phillip Island I traveled to the Matt Stone Racing headquarters at the Gold Coast. Where we poured a seat and adjusted the pedals to make the cockpit more comfortable. As this was another track I had never raced before, I then went to McElrea racing where I spent a few hours on the simulator with a professional engineer to learn the track and lines. This set me up really well going into the island race.

Phillip Island is such an iconic circuit I couldn’t wait to get out there, Friday morning Jason, Jack and I walked around the track where I picked up on lines, passing spots and a few circuit tricks. We finally rolled out for 2 practice sessions that afternoon. During practice the rear end of the car was really unsettled, especially in the high speed turns. I didn’t have much confidence to be able to push the car. We made changes between sessions and improved massively in the next one.

We qualified 16th on Saturday morning, I was disappointed as I knew there was so much more in me and the car. We raced hard Saturday afternoon moving our way forward to finish 11th place.

We started where we finished for race 2, I didn’t get the best of starts, but I battled hard made the most of each opportunity and made my way to 9th place racing door to door with James Moffat, the TV coverage was fantastic and I earned the respect of the other drivers along the way. I felt I really got a handle on the car by the end of the race, my times were competitive and I loved the battle after all I am here to race!

Race 3 is where we came undone, after the grid walk I nailed my practice start, but when it came to the real one I bogged down and found my self boxed in front to back and sandwiched from side to side. Cars collided in front of me and I was hit from behind spearing off towards the grass.

I could see the cars shooting across in front of me at high speed so I slowed down and moved, they hit at an awkward angle and within a split second spun around and were now right in front of me. Boom! I T boned it fair and square and busted my radiator in the process. I limped back to the pits, but unfortunately our race was done.

I was looking forward to the final race after really feeling I now have a handle on the car and how to drive it, I feel sorry and the disappointment for the Matt Stone Racing team as they worked their buts off all weekend. I can’t thank Actron Air enough for their support over the past 2 rounds, as without their help and support I wouldn’t have made it this far. We are working harder than ever to secure a budget to race the next round at The Bend in South Australia and finish the season.

I felt I really got a handle on the car by the end of the race, my times were competitive and I loved the battle after all I am here to race!

Race 3 is where we came undone, after the grid walk I nailed my practice start, but when it came to the real one I bogged down and found my self boxed in front to back and sandwiched from side to side. Cars collided in front of me and I was hit from behind spearing off towards the grass. I could see the cars shooting across in front of me at high speed so I slowed down and moved, they hit at an awkward angle and within a split second spun around and were now right in front of me. Boom! I T boned it fair and square and busted my radiator in the process. I limped back to the pits, but unfortunately our race was done.

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