Christine Doran races for Slidesports Race Engineering in the VAG Trophy.
The Scot got into motorsport after Ginetta set her a challenge to learn how to drive from scratch in just seven months when she was just 15. She passed the test and came 13th out of 15 in the British Ginetta Juniors at Knockhill.
Other challenges followed. Despite having never done any karting, she came second in class in her first full Scottish series – driving a Triumph TR8 in the Classics. Then she tried the BMW Compact Cup before tackling her first UK series last year. She came fourth in class in the VAG Trophy and is now back for a tilt at the title. Christie has joined Girl Racer as a columnist to give an insight into how the season is panning out….
I woke up on Sunday morning and the first thing I saw was the trophy. My first win in the VAG Trophy and it will always be very special.
The weekend had been a strange one because Snetterton was not at the top of my favourite places to race list. The last time I was there I ended up with whiplash and a very poorly car. There had been an incident at the front of the field as the race started. I had seen it and was aiming to go on the grass and around it when I was hit sideways and ended up in the wall.
To be fair, I had struggled to get to grips with the track all that weekend but the crash was a definite low, especially as my Slidesports Race Engineering team had to put it back together.
But they insisted there would be good times and bad times – I just had to bounce back from the bad times and enjoy the good ones.
So far this year has been full of personal achievements. I have been on the pace in every round and found lots of time from testing through qualifying and in the races.
But there have been a number of close calls. I was second in the opening round at Oulton Park by less than a second. I was leading at Brands Hatch Indy when the race was red-flagged, then the driveshaft broke on the restart. I was second in the final race at Brands.
I was starting to wonder if the win would come but I kept the belief and worked hard, but I wasn’t sure Snetterton would be a happy hunting ground.
I knew I needed to find a large chunk of time from last year’s best laps. I started in testing – going two seconds quicker than last year. We looked at the data and Slidesports boss Mark Jenkins spotted a couple of things I could do differently. I went out again and found another two seconds. Mark still reckoned there was more time to come.
I spent the night thinking about it then it was full-on attack in qualifying. The pitboard said P2, the lap timer in the car said we had found another two seconds. Mark reckoned there was more to come.
Race one was one of the best battles I have ever had, but it was also frustrating. The leading two in Class B, Simon Tomlinson and Barrie Culley, have been in great form all year. They got ahead of me but I hung in there.
I was on their bumpers or alongside them for the whole race. There was rarely more than a second between all three cars but I just could not get ahead and make it stick. The race ended with me in third – just nine tenths of a second back. It was small consolation to know I had found another second and had the fastest lap.
I felt I had missed an opportunity. Mark went through the data and knew the right things to say to me. He showed me where I could have made moves work but told me to stop beating myself up and go out and get ahead at the start and control it from there. It was that simple, he said.
I decided that if a gap opened up I was not holding back. Simon looked to be going for the same gap but I just got there first and was past both him and Barrie.
They were tight on my tail for a couple of laps until I was able to get an A Class car between us and then I could open up a gap.
From there I probably watched the mirrors too much but I was just concentrating on making as few mistakes as possible. I saw the last lap board then came round again to see the Slidesports guys hanging over the wall and cheering. I had done it.
The warm-down lap was such a thrill. I waved at the marshals and was just screaming. Then I was down the pitlane and told to park up for the podium. Everyone was cheering and high-fiving.
The only downside is that I am really bad at opening champagne bottles. By the time the cork was out the others had soaked me. I definitely need to work on my technique.
I have tasted a win. I know I definitely want to experience that again. By Christine Doran
Follow Christie at facebook.com/christiedoranracing or on Twitter: @RacingCd
