Jo Polley and the Eurotech team headed north to Oulton Park in Cheshire last weekend for the second Mini Festival of the season.
The team had a win with Brett Smith at the last festival and Jo felt she had made progress so hopes were high for the weekend.
The Friday test sessions were very wet. Jeff and Brett’s experienced showed and they were both very quick but this was the first time for Jo in the wet in this car and she wasn’t happy.
Despite this, she learnt throughout the day and by the end was looking forward to qualifying and seeing what she could do.
Saturday morning saw some more rain and although it stopped by the time qualifying got underway and everyone was on wets as the session started. The conditions gradually dried out during the session but it wasn’t until the last few minutes that it was dry enough to put slicks on. Out of the three Eurotech drivers, only Jeff Smith was able to get in for a tyre chance and second on the grid showed this was a great move. Brett and Jo found themselves in fourteenth and twenty sixth respectively.
On the positive side of things, Jo felt much happier in the car now. Unusually, this meeting was all on one day, so not long after qualifying it was ready to line up for race one. There would only be two races instead of the usual three so only two chances to get a good result!
Jo was towards the rear of the grid, leaving her car down Dear Leap and out of sight of the lights.
As the lights went out, Jeff made a great start to take the lead with Brett also getting away well to chase the front running pack around the first corner. Jo didn’t get a great start but this was to prove to be a blessing in disguise as the first lap progressed.
Heading down to cascades on the first lap, Charlie Butler Henderson was fired off the track into a huge roll, wrecking his car. In the confusion that surrounded this crash Brett’s car also crashed out.
Inevitably the safety car was scrambled while the wreckage was dealt with. Jeff Still led while Jo was now able to catch up to the back of the pack. After several laps the safety car went in and the race was back on.
However there were only a few laps of racing completed before another off, brought out the red flags and a result was declared. Jeff gained his first victory of the year. Jo had fought up to nineteenth and had been gaining on those ahead of her when the race had been stopped.
She was now feeling much more confident in the car and looked forward to race two.
Jeff had to draw the reverse grid number on the podium of race one and he drew 6, meaning he would start sixth on the grid. Jo’s position was eighteenth where she finished and Brett was at the back after his retirement in race one.
On the warm up laps, rain started to fall. With all the cars on slicks it was a gamble to decide whether to start the race on slicks or head to the pitlane for a tyre change but a pitlane start.
Jeff opted to continue on slicks but Jo immediately decided to pit. Brett also headed to the pitlane leaving the team with two cars to change to wets.
The Eurotech team were incredibly quick and both mini’s were quick to join the queue at the end of the pitlane, importantly before the race got underway on track.
As the race got underway, Jeff got a great start and over the first couple of laps he was fighting for the lead. Brett and Jo were quickly on track and started hunting down the slick shod runners as they were much quicker with their wet tyres on the now soaked track.
As the rain kept coming, Jeff and the top six on slicks, were finding it hard to keep on track. It looked like Jeff would have to pit but before he could, he was off at the Shell oils hairpin and out of the race.
By now Brett had joined the front running pack and quickly passed all the cars running slicks. The rest of the race became a battle between Brett and Henry Neal, son of multiple BTCC champion Matt. Brett eventually got past and into the lead just a couple of laps before the end. Henry didn’t give up though and the two crossed the line together with Brett taking the win.
Jo was also having a strong race and eventually took eleventh place. She had only narrowly missed out on the top ten and it was her best result of 2016.
It had proved to be the team’s best weekend of 2016 so far with Jeff and Brett taking the two race victories as well as Jo taking her best result of her season.
Jo was happy with her days racing as well as the strong results for the team overall;
“It’s been a Great days racing at Oulton Park today, wet dry wet dry wet dry all day made for very exciting races! I finished nineteenth in race one and then took my best finish in the JCW so far, with eleventh in race two! Thanks to all the Eurotech boys for their hard work and well done to Jeff and Brett on their well-deserved wins.”
There is just one meeting left for the JCW class of the Mini Challenge at Snetterton in October. Jo will be hoping to continue her progress up the field with Brett and Jeff looking for more wins. The whole of the Eurotech team will want to end their 2016 Mini challenge season on a high. By Marc Waller
