Hello Everyone,

Being on a two month break from racing has left me a great time to do a review on my season so far as well as a brilliant time to look at plans for next year and making sure I can drive to the best of my ability for the rest of this season. The last two rounds of the championship have really showed everyone the potential I have and for me they have been the best races of my career so far in my 3 years of car racing. I have now successfully achieved making history in the Volkswagen Racing Cup UK and have proved to a lot of people that I am not there to just make up the numbers; I am there to race my heart out and get the results I want to achieve.

At Brands Hatch the race meeting took place on the Grand Prix track and luckily I absolutely love the track as it is so flowing and a pleasure to drive. I managed to put in a brilliant qualifying session and qualified on 3^rd place therefore being the Highest Qualifying Female In The History Of The Championship. The races didn’t go as planned though and in the first race on the second lap I was hit into a spin from 4^th place and this sent my car into limp mode where I then had to pit. I came out in last place where I then made up around 5 places to finish 15^th which was extremely pleasing as I was also not far off the pace of the front runners. Race two was more of a lottery as it had rained and so tyre choices were vital. I went for intermediates all round and this allowed me to have a brilliant start and get up to 4^th place in 3 laps. As my tyres went off and my competitors with slick tyres came on, I struggled to keep up my pace and ended up dropping to 8^th place for the finish. I was still in the top 10 of the championship which was good and it was a solid weekend even though the results were not as great as I would have hoped.

Zandvoort was next and I was looking forward to my trip to the Netherlands as the track is like the Brands Hatch GP track in a few ways which I really do love driving. After spending most of qualifying in 3^rd place again I dropped to 5^th by the finish which I was a bit disappointed by but I knew I had the pace to be fighting for a podium so was determined to put in a good performance. Race one didn’t start very well and I dropped back a few places before the safety car came out but I capitalised at the first corner and worked my way back into 6^th place before I then caught 5^th and overtook to take the place at the finish. With the reverse grid restart I started on the front row for the second race and managed to hold second for 3 laps before overtaking and becoming the leader for one lap. As the championship leader overtook me on track I did not let up and pushed him right the way to the finish where I only missed out on the win by a second and a half at the chequered flag. This was a mega result for me and by getting this second place result I made another three history titles! I am now the highest placed female in a Volkswagen Cup race, the first female on the podium in a Volkswagen Cup race and also the youngest driver on the podium in a Volkswagen Cup race. So with these under my belt I will be looking for my first win in the near future.

I have also successfully completed one year under the MSA Academy banner and have learnt an awful lot from all the coaches, dieticians, psychologists and guest speakers as well as how to apply all knowledge and skills I have developed in my years of racing. I also took part in a charity kart race run by Formula 1 driver Karun Chandhok where I had built up a lead of 4.5 seconds in my stint for my team to finish 3^rd overall which was an extremely fun event with a good result at the end.

I hope that everyone is keeping well and enjoying all forms of motorsport wherever they are.

Zoe