Misty Mayhem at Motorland Aragon PT.2

The penultimate round of Junior GP took place in Motorland Aragon and it consisted of a wide variety of weather to say the least.

Thursday: Kyle took a new approach to the weekend not focusing on outright lap time but working sector by sector which proved to have a positive affect. The day ended with a lap time of 2:09:00. however this wasn’t important as it wasn’t the main focus of the day.

Friday: Kyle also took the morning session to work on a few last things and in the afternoon session the goal was to go with some faster riders and get in a good lap time in time attack mode. However the riders he chose to follow were a step to far resulting in not getting the desired tow during the session and finishing with a lap time 2:07:00, still a good improvement.

Saturday: Rain had fallen overnight resulting in a wet session. Being new tarmac everyone went out not knowing what the grip would be like. The riders quickly found out that it offered good grip. Kyle took a few laps to get up to speed but improved every lap.

Q1: The session was not only wet but actually raining with a lot more surface water on the track. Kyle went out but due to the increase of water on the track the grip was not the same and it threw him a bit. Late in the session he a lap time to put him P6 for the last chance grid.

Conditions better suited for ducks!!

Last Chance Race: unlike last year the sun was out although it was slightly cloudy and chilly. Kyle was ready and confident for the race starting in P6 and all was looking good. The lights went out and Kyle got a good start putting him P5 into turn 1. He got shuffled back to around 7th after the first lap but still fighting in the front group. As the riders came round for the 2nd lap when entering the back straight it was suddenly full of mist given near zero visibility. Eventually it covered the whole circuit and the red flag came out ending the race after just a couple of laps. Unsure whether the race would restart after a 30 minute wait pitlane was declared open and a 5 lap race restart. Taking the original grid position in 6th he took off the line for the second time fighting his way into 3rd into Turn 1. Things were looking good for the first turns he entered the corkscrew section, another rider overtook him and outbroke himself resulting taking both himself and Kyle wide and having to take the re-join road losing valuable seconds and putting him in last position. Kyle kept his head down and fought hard to catch up those in front and made a few places to finish P12.

Overall the weekend had it ups and downs but Kyle will take the positives out of it and give it everything at the last round at Valencia.

Kyle Payne Racing © 2024. All Rights Reserved. Built by  Validus Media