Side quest went decent 🏆

A fairytale result for Innovation Racing this weekend, with a P1 on debut in British GT at the Silverstone 500, arguably the toughest race on the calendar.

How I ended up on the pit wall

I'm a driver on Innovation Racing's GT4 development programme, so I came into the weekend on Friday to lend a hand with data on the car. That meant looking at the traces, helping the drivers find time, and feeding back what I could see.

That brief changed quite significantly just one day into proceedings, and I assumed the role of race engineer for the weekend, jumping on the radio to be the driver's only point of contact with the team during qualifying and the race.

It's a strange thing to be handed, and an amazing challenge. It also happens to sit right on top of everything I've done up to this point, including my time spent in Formula 1. Being able to read a car technically and translate that into something a driver can actually use is a super important skill, and being able to put it all into practice in the high pressure situation of the race massively benefits my own driving too.

Process over outcome

We genuinely had no clue whereabouts we would finish at the start of the weekend, and the team attempted to be modest in their predictions for performance, being their first time in British GT.

The approach for the whole weekend was simple:

• Make sure each team member's role is performed to their maximum capability
• Keep thoughts of a particular result or outcome to a minimum
• Keep full concentration only on the things we actually had control over

That last point is the one I keep coming back to. Every time your attention drifts to a result you can't directly influence, it comes off something you can. Over a three-hour race with that many variables, that adds up fast.

Qualifying

We took a great step in qualifying and snatched pole by two hundredths in the combined standings, which is an unbelievable result, everyone executing their jobs perfectly and the car working to its very best.

The race

And then we went and delivered a record-breaking race win, the only team ever to win on debut in British GT.

Everyone on the team exceeded expectations. The drivers performed extremely well under genuinely intense pressure, over a long race, with the lead to defend from the front. The crew delivered flawless pitstops. The strategy went to plan, everything just fell into place. It doesn't happen often in motorsport so you have to be grateful when it does!

From the wall, the job is mostly about staying ahead of the race rather than reacting to it, keeping the driver's information clean and minimal when it matters, and making sure that when a decision does need making, it's already been thought through. When the people around you are executing at that level, the engineering job becomes a lot calmer.

An underdog story

The team is extremely new, existing only for about a year prior to this point and additionally its their first time in British GT.

I don't think an underdog story has ever been realised quite like the one that unfolded this weekend.

Huge congratulations to every single person in that garage.

Roll on round 2 💚