Silverstone - Thursday test day:
Just one lap into a 3-hour session and James was hit from behind as he drove into Copse Corner, which destroyed the right rear corner of his car. His assailant, who shall remain nameless this time to avoid further embarrassment, simply drove like a novice, apparently unable to appreciate what a “cold” Formula Renault was capable of (not) doing. This incident, on cold tyres and with equally cold bakes, on what was after all only the first lap at the start of a lengthy test session, was inexcusable! 

James therefore had no choice but to sit calmly in the pit garage, whilst the team spent a frantic 2-hours rebuilding the car. With the JA Motorsport crew pulling out all the stops, they did a great job to at least get James out for 4-laps for a systems check. It meant though that the driver was left with little time to familiarise himself with the circuit, having only raced there once before in April 2003! 

Silverstone - Saturday - qualifying:
It was wet… In fact it was very, very wet, and with a lack of track time, James struggled with both the conditions and the car. He nevertheless qualified surprisingly well given the circumstances, although he was naturally very disappointed with his overall position.



Silverstone - Sunday (race day):
Race 1 In a tremendously spirited drive through the field after an excellent start, James made up 14 places, pulling off some superb overtaking manoeuvres, to take a hard earned 17th place by the flag. The result? An award for the ‘Driver of the Day’ from Renault UK, which made it James’ second such award in the first five races of the Championship. 

Race 2: As he did in the first race James was making up places from the start, until he was forced onto the grass at 120mph, causing a high-speed spin. He recovered the car without hitting anything, but unfortunately sustained some aero damage and flat-spotted his tyres, which resulted in handling problems.

This incident left him half a lap down, until safety car was deployed 2-laps from end of race. This allowed James to bring his Staff-Smart sponsored car onto 
tail end of cars, allowing him to race up to 23rd by the finish. It was subsequently found out that James had been clocked through the speed trap with the second fastest top speed overall! 

It had been a hard weekend with some high and low spots, but the team left Silverstone with the feeling that progress had been made. More importantly was the fact that James’ efforts had been recognised with his second ‘Driver of the Day’ award, which left a good feeling of satisfaction.

Oulton Park is next on the calendar for rounds 7 and 8 in two week’s time.