There were mixed fortunes for Desborough racing driver Roger Owens in round four of the Hyundai Coupe Cup at Mallory Park on August 1st . While the circuit was wet for the practice session, by the time qualifying started the sun had come out and the track was dry.
Qualifying which took part in two stages due to a red flag after 3 laps was the closest of the year so far and while Owens qualified in 15th there was less than 1 second between him and 2nd place and less than two hundredths of a second between Owens and 7th . “I’m really pleased with qualifying although a little disappointed with the result as I think we could have progressed further if I wasn’t held up by a slower car in the latter stages of qualifying”.
In race one, Owens made significant progress in the early stages climbing to 12th after a number of committed overtakes around the outside of the slow and tight hairpin, before gaining a further place by switching to in the inside of the same corner to grab 11th where he eventually finished, his highest position yet.
There were high hopes for race 2 to build on the momentum but running wide into turn one but the car into a spin and off into the grass, narrowly avoiding the tyre wall. Owens was able to re-join the race however in last place. He was able to gain a couple of places due to others mechanical misfortunes and finished 16th.
“I’m absolutely gutted, not only for myself but the team, this whole year has been about developing and today we showed we have the pace to compete with the mid pack” While disappointed, Owens is optimistic for the remainder of the season, with the next event on the Silverstone National circuit a single 45-minute endurance style race. “Silverstone is going to be a completely different challenge, we’ve not raced for that long before, car reliability and tyre preservation is going to be key to a strong result”
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