06 April 2004
Learning Curve On Caterham Return For Rick Pearson
Former Caterham K competitor Rick Pearson returned to his roots at Donington Park on Sunday, making his racing debut for the Daventry-based Tracsport team in the Powertrain R400 Caterham Challenge.
Qualifying: 13th [1m
16.453s]
The Maidstone
ace – a top ten finisher in the European Clio Cup last season- had a torrid
time in Saturday qualifying, hampered by changeable conditions at the
Derbyshire track. His best time of 1:16.45s placed him thirteenth on the
grid.
Race 1: 10th
Bouncing back after a difficult qualifying, Pearson put in a sterling
performance in the opening couple of laps, sprinting from thirteenth on
the grid to a competitive sixth on lap two. The Tracsport car was then
forced off the circuit at McLeans following a robust overtaking manoeuvre
by Team Parker Racing’s Chris Holmes. Despite handling problems Pearson
blasted back past Hyperion Motorsport’s Kevin Williams and Nick Phillips
for the remainder of the twelve lap race, finishing a solid tenth and
picking up ten championship points.
Race 2: 11th
Starting on the fifth row of the grid for the second Caterham outing of
the afternoon, the R400 feature race, Pearson was again quick off the
mark and ensconced in sixth place early in the opening tour. The slippery
track conditions caught many drivers out in the first few laps and caused
the Tracsport driver to run wide on lap one whilst avoiding contact with
team mate John Ingram’s sliding Caterham. Having dropped to last, Pearson
staged a recovery run on the new Donington Park tarmac and was up to eleventh
when heavy rain forced a premature end to the race.
Quotes Rick Pearson:
“The variable levels of grip here at Donington have forced us to try a
wide range of set-ups on the car in an attempt to regain our testing pace.
I'm happy that we've learnt a lot, the car is in one piece and I think
we should be in pretty good shape at Silverstone for the next round.
“I’m a little disappointed that we've not had the best start to the season
points wise but I’ll be doing my best to remedy that at Silverstone in
two weeks time."