Race #6 of the ROK Sonoma Championship was held on modified version of the forward direction Sprint layout, but with a re-profiling of the Tic-Tac-Toe section. Temporary barriers in place to tested the layout created a much slower and tighter chicane. It was a welcome change to save the underside of the chassis and negate the need to attack the curbs.
Like race #4 on the similar Sprint layout, but in the reverse direction, all day Saturday we were off a few tenths to the other Micro drivers, and and over half a second to Chico in Mini. By the end of the day, we decided to change up the gear to prioritize the few medium length straights and adjust the lines through the low speed corners to compensate, hoping it would do the trick for Sunday.
Again in qualifying the one-lap pace just wasn't quite there and we ended up forth overall out of the 6 cadet drivers.
With only 4 races to go in the Championship, and with it still being super tight with Mateo in Micro, I knew we needed to get as many points as possible in the pre-finals, but starting on the outside of row 2 put us in a tough position to gain anything at the start, so I settled into 4th behind Julian and Mateo. Chico again pulled a bit of gap up front, but the battle for second lasted all race. I let it play out for a few laps in front between Mateo and Julian, working by Mateo on lap 3 and then Julian by lap 5. I took the Micro pre-final win and the critical championship points that came with it.
Pre-final 2 played out similarly. I again just tried to hold onto 4th through turn one, resulting with Chico in the lead and then two other Micro drivers ahead, Kanishk and Mateo. I settled in behind Mateo until an opportunity came to make a move into Laguna on lap 4. Knowing that Chico was already several seconds out in the lead, and that 2nd overall was all that was needed for the full Micro points, I again settled in, waiting for another opportunity, which came on the final lap going into Kramer. On pass on the inside stuck, and I again grabbed full points for Micro in the second pre-final.
With two 2nds in the pre-finals, it would be an outside front row start for the final, and with the championship in mind, the goal was to just hold the outside and get through cleanly, settle in and then work up if needed like in the pre-finals. That didn't happen though as I was just pushed around and off the track in turn 1. And with a snapped bumper bolt the race was over, taking a huge at huge hit for the championship in the process. With only 3 races to go, it's going to be a challenge to make it back up...
Full race video and all other classes is up on the Rok Sonoma YouTube channel
