Positive pace first time out at Paul Ricard for Bart Harrison

The first round of the Euro 4 championship saw Bart race at Paul Ricard for the first time, with mixed results.

Free Practice saw Bart run strongly within the top ten, so qualifying in P12 and P16 came as a disappointment. Q1 was simply a matter of being released from the pits too late and getting one less lap on a track that was getting progressively quicker – P5 was realistic but P12 was the outcome. Q2 was badly compromised by traffic with cars slowing almost to a standstill in the final sector ahead of their own push laps. Having just set a purple second sector the road ahead was blocked by the traffic jam.

Race one was Bart’s best opportunity to score points, but a stall at the start dropped him to P25. The recovery drive was impressive with a lot of decisive overtaking, ultimately finishing P12 and outside the points. Race two saw Bart race from a grid slot of P16 to finish tenth and take one championship point. The final race saw Bart move from his starting position of P17 to P11 over the first two laps, and running at front running pace, only to be run off the track and over the kerbs by another driver. After that the handling of the car became unpredictable and Bart’s pace fell away massively, ending the race back in P17.

Overall, a rather disappointing outcome, but knowledge gained of another new circuit and good pace demonstrated.