Team Falken GB - 2006 Events

EVENT	DATE	CIRCUIT	EVENT REPORT
D1GB Media/Test/Licensing	April 15th - 16th (Sat - Sun)	Donington (Donny Show)	THIS PAGE
D1GB - Round 1	May 28th (Sun)	Rockingham	Read Report
D1GB - Round 2	June 17th (Sat)	Silverstone (National)	Read Report
Max Power Live	June 30th - July 2nd (Fri - Sun)	NEC Birmingham	N/A
D1GB - Round 3	July 1st (Sat)	Knockhill	N/A
Festival of Speed	July 7th - 9th (Fri - Sun)	Goodwood	N/A
D1GB - Round 4	August 20th (Sun)	Silverstone (National)	Read Report

Event Report - D1GB Licensing Event, Donington Park

Team Falken GB had a lot to celebrate on Easter Sunday. Both Team Falken GB drivers, Garry Kennedy and John Chambers, qualified for D1 Licenses over the 2 day D1GB License event at the Donny/Ripspeed show held at Donington Park. D1GP Champion, Yasuyuki Kazama, was on hand over the 2 days to judge the 51 competitors as they each competed over 12 assessed runs to try and obtain one of 29 coveted D1 GB Licenses that would entitle them to compete in the D1GB Championship in 2006. With consistency the order of the day John and Garry drove the immaculately prepared cars with style and control and succeeded in both drivers achieving license status.

After a good test session the week before, the team were confident of putting on a good show at the Licensing Event. Morning practice on Saturday highlighted the intricacies of the course and also the areas where Kazama would be basing his judging. The first qualifying round consisting of 3 runs went well with both drivers putting in excellent smooth consistent runs. In the afternoon John elected to put a wider tyre on the rear of the car to increase the mid corner stability as this had shown to be the case during testing at Silverstone the week before, however the extra grip from the Donington track surface caused too much traction and after two aborted attempts it was time for a dash to the pits to swap back to the original tyres for the final run. This final attempt of the day was bang on the money and restored the confidence lost.

Sunday morning practice bought some nerves to the surface for Garry but by the time of the judged runs he was back at the top of his game with another set of excellent runs. John was now playing a bit of catch-up but thrilled the crowd with some excellent tyre smoking displays. The cooler and windier conditions on Sunday caused a lot of the competing drivers to make small mistakes so the team concentrated on consistency again to increase the chances of overall success. This ultimately paid off with both drivers obtaining licenses in the tense ceremony held at the end of the meeting.

During the weekend the cars looked fantastic lined up next to each other in the pit lane and created a big impact on track with many spectators commenting on the presentation and driver quality of the Team Falken GB effort. Whenever the cars were stood still there was a flurry of camera clicks in the pits by spectators eager to capture the best prepared cars in the series and Crystal Kleen Valeting were on hand to ensure the cars looked their best at all times.
On the Sunday Team Falken GB also entertained their special guest for the day, 2003 WRC Production Champion Martin Rowe. Martin will be trying out for his license in the near future with the aim of competing in the D1GB series with Team Falken GB.