TOP STEP FOR ALBIE

Round TWO of the HKRC 2022 championship and the sky was bright, the track was dry and Saturday testing was good… REALLY good. Albie had topped the stopwatches all day, so prospects for race day looked strong!

Sunday – Race day. Well, someone flicked the rain switch on and it rained and rained and rained, just as well Albie is fast in the wet too!

After a short practice we were straight into the first heat. Albie started the random grids in Pole position. The lights went out and he was off. A mega 10 lap battle saw Albie jostle for either 1st or 2nd position. With two laps to go Albie had taken the lead back again! On the penultimate lap Albie dropped back to 2nd. With 0.4 seconds separating the top four, it was anyone’s for the taking. The final lap saw Friend take back the lead, but with two corners to go it changed again! Albie had to settle for 2nd place for this race, but what a 2nd place it was!

Heat two saw Friend start near the back of the pack in 27th position. This was going to be a tough battle to make his way forward, but mixed grids certainly show the drivers from the racers… and Albie is certainly a racer! The lights went out and Albie was on a mission. After the first lap Albie had already made up a staggering NINE positions, on the following lap he was P15. There was then a few laps battling to get through, but he did so in style, navigating through the back markers chasing down the leaders. With three laps to go Albie was inP11, then an audacious overtake on the two battling drivers in front saw him overtake them both. The Final lap and Albie was P9! The gap was just a little too much and his final position ended as P9. Another amazing drive through the pack from the youngster.

After his exemplary performance in heat two, he secured a starting position of third. After the recent run of 2nd place’s, you could see that Friend was itching for his first final win of the season. For the final on the day, the lights went green and Albie was racing. The final was a perfect example of raw talent showing the rest of the class how to do it. Lap one was completed and Albie was leading… and he continued to do so for EVERY single lap. He crossed the line over FIVE seconds in front of the second place driver. An absolutely MEGA race and a thoroughly deserved first win of the season. We’re sure that this is the first of many for 2022!

Roll on next weekend.