The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Andy Molsom is still in with a shout of winning the Caterham Graduates Super Championship after once again finishing on the podium at Snetterton.
It was a mixed weekend for the Spalding racer at the Norfolk track, as he failed to finish at round 12 before storming back to seal second at round 13.
That leaves Molsom – now guaranteed second place in the Championship – six points behind series leader Toby Briant ahead of the next round at Silverstone.
In qualifying, Molsom was on track early to gain track position, which was a great move as the rain was imminent. After a quick warm-up lap, he was well ahead of everyone else, and thought he could get two quick laps in before the rain came.
Unfortunately, half way round the first lap, his car stopped revving freely.
Molsom slowly made it back to the pits, where the problem seemed to solve itself once the car was restarted.
Sadly, the problem returned at the end of the next lap. After another stop in the pits and on track to restart the car, it eventually behaved itself and Molsom got his minimum three laps in to qualify for the race.
Unfortunately, the rain had started and the opportunity for a good start position was gone.
Both races on Sunday saw Molsom start from the back of the grid. The first race started well, with the South Holland ace making up places and being within reach of the class leader.
Briant, Molsom’s main rival for the championship, made a disastrous start and was at the back of the grid by the first corner. Unfortunately, the same problem recurred for Molsom on the back straight and the car lost power.
Despite all efforts, it would not resolve itself and Molsom found a safe place to stop, and watched the remainder of the race, which Barry White won ahead of Briant.
After much hard work and deliberation by Rockey Racing, the problem seemed to come down to the fuel pressure regulator, which was fixed in time for the afternoon race.
Molsom was very tentative with the car, and made his way into second place.
However, he was unable to catch leader Briant, who started ten places ahead. Molsom also claimed the fastest race lap for his class.
“Qualifying was another nightmare,” said Molsom. “I only just got the three laps in that I required to qualify for the race.
“The car is getting old now, and is causing these intermittent problems that are difficult to diagnose.
“Rockey Racing have done a great job, spending hours trying everything possible to solve the issue.
“After the non-finish in race one, I really didn’t think the car would be fit for race two. All credit for Rockey Racing to get the car working to complete the second race.
“I was just utterly relieved to finish the race, uncertain at every corner whether the car was going to behave.
“More work needs to be done, as the throttle response wasn’t great, but at least I finished strongly.”
Supers Championship standings: 1st Toby Briant 299pts; 2nd Andy Molsom 293pts; 3rd Barry White 284pts.
