The team headed out for practice on Saturday lunch time in scorching conditions, air temperature reaching 27 degrees. The duo stayed out for the full 20 minutes of practice to make sure they and the bike were able to go race distance without any problem. When the practice times came in Kershaw and Wilson were delighted to find themselves 8th fastest out of the full grid of 28 outfits. Kershaw commenting "there is defiantly more to come." That evening the team headed out for qualifying again a 20 minute session. Kershaw and Wilson were quietly confident after practice that they could cause an upset being the "rookies" of the championship. This was not to be as after just 3 laps the duo pulled into the pits with Kershaw reporting engine problems... unfortunately this turned out to be terminal and with only 3 timed laps the Lauder lads had to start race 1 from a distance 19th place.
After a late night changing engines Kershaw Racing headed out for Sunday morning warm-up, just a check over, everything looked good. Now it was down to business. Race 1, lights outs and a great start from Kershaw and Wilson jumping to 17th into the first corner, the duo really pushed hard and were flying! The pairing were passing a outfit every lap any where there was a gap! It was an 18 lap race and with 6 laps to go the duo were up to 10th place! In the final few laps Kershaw and Wilson jostled for position taking 9th and then the 4th placed outfit spun out leaving the duo in 8th, the sidecar behind them made a last attempt to pass them on the final lap but Kershaw read the move and blocked the line crossing the line in a fantastic 8th place! A brilliant result for only the 4th time on the bike.
Easter Monday, a huge crowd, sun shining and live TV coverage all awaited the sidecar crews and after Kershaw Racing's excellent 8th place from race 1 they found themselves starting race 2 from race 1 results so it was 8th on the grid not 19th a huge leg up! Kershaw commenting " That's unlucky for teams who crashed on broke down as they start at the back but that's racing, we pushed hard yesterday and it paid off, we just need to try and hang with the lead group and take it from there."
The lights go out and 28 F1 sidecars hurtle towards the first corner, Kershaw and Wilson getting a blinder of a start taking 6th into the first corner, but lost a place straight away into the hairpin. Lap 2 and the duo were holding 7th place just hanging with 6th, 5th and 4th placed outfits but had the rest of the pack breathing down their necks, one wrong move and you would lose 2 places. By half race distance Kershaw and Wilson had pulled a 3 sec gap on the 8th placed outfit but also dropped off 6th by 2 seconds and found themselves lapping totally on their own. The duo continued to push hard setting very impressive lap times. With 3 laps to go the red flags went out after a big crash involving two outfits further down the field, luckily know one was seriously hurt and with just 3 laps left the race was called a result. So a brilliant 7th place for team Kershaw! Kershaw and Wilson commenting " What a brilliant weekend, we never thought we would be able to compete inside the top 10 so early on in the season, it bodes well for the rest of the year as we are learning more about the bike every time we ride it. Bring on rounds 3 and 4!"
The team head back to Brands Hatch on the 21/22nd of May for rounds 3 and 4 on the GP Circuit. This will be covered on Eurosport 2 the following weekend. So set the recorder!
