The Early May Bank Holiday weekend saw Greg Speight and the Tyres On The Drive sponsored XR-2 make a new debut at Croft Circuit, Darlington.

The trip up North was for the latest instalment of the ST-XR Challenge, which was a triple header event. It started with an oil leak and ended with Greg triumphantly climbing back up to second in class having spun off in the final race, with a fastest lap and a red flag in between.

Pre-race prep

Despite having watched a lot of in car footage before his visit to Croft, this was Greg’s debut at this circuit and he still had no real idea of what the track was like. Arriving a day before the race to take part in test and practice sessions was crucial for gaining valuable track time. However, after just a few laps of the practice session, disaster struck. The car developed an oil leak from the gearbox, which resulted in plumes of smoke pouring out each time Greg took the sharp hairpin coming onto the start finish straight. On realising the problem, he had to end the session to find a fix. Luckily, our very own Dan Lyons, Tyres On The Drive Catalogue Analyst, was on hand to help and was called into action as Chief Mechanic!

Dan, another TOTD a track car fanatic, saved the day by providing the exact sized jubilee clip required to fix the gearbox problem. Good work, Dan!

Qualifying

The car was set up for dry conditions and after a couple of warm up laps, Greg finished qualifying 4th overall and 3rd in class. There was a new Fiesta ST at this meeting for the first time in the season, the experienced driver behind the wheel qualified on pole. And so, onto race one.

Race 1

The first race of the weekend didn’t see as much action as later races but still saw our driver gain some additional points. He lost a place at the first corner as the 5th placed car started well and managed to sneak past. After following for a lap, Greg managed to regain the spot on the straight and moved back up to 4th, however, by this time the 2nd and 3rd placed cars had pulled out a gap which he was unable to close. The Fiesta ST in 1st was in the distance. This is how the race finished with the TOTD car 4th overall and 3rd in class. Despite being a fairly uneventful race, Greg did manage the fastest lap in class for which an additional point is awarded in the championship. Not so boring after all!

Race 2

The second race saw plenty of action but left our driver (and his supporters!) a little frustrated. The first lights out saw Greg make a brilliant start, making his way up into third before the first corner and right up behind 2nd, but it was soon cut short with a red flag. The race was stopped as another competitor had rolled their car and had to be attended by the medical staff. Fortunately, he was OK but the car was not and was unable to take any further part in the weekend. The restart put Greg back down the order as the marshals reformed the grid and the race was shortened to 12 minutes. Despite anther good start he was unable to gain any places as the third placed car forced their way past sliding down the inside at the first corner, knocking the lovely TOTD green trim and mirrors!

Just as Greg was about to attempt a pass to get up to 3rd, the safety car appeared for two laps, due to another, not as serious incident, which meant the race was neutralised. Following the safety car restart, Greg had a great run on 3rd down the start finish straight but some strong defensive manoeuvres meant he was unable to make a clean pass. With only a few laps in the shortened race, the last lap board soon appeared, and Greg needed to make it count. On the approach to the final hairpin, the 3rd placed driver went defensive, which slowed his exit, and Greg took a wide line and swung in tight. They were unable to block Greg before he was alongside them and he passed them just before the line. Final position 3rd overall and 2nd in class, just in the nick of time! Better Speight than never eh?!

Race 3

The final race saw Greg starting on the front row as the winning ST from the first two races had withdrawn. This turned out to be Greg’s most eventful race of the meeting. Achieving another good start, Greg got his nose in front but had to back out as he was on the outside line approaching the first corner. Now following the leader, Greg hoped to get close to try for the win, however, he decided to take the car for a spin instead!

Greg explained: “On the downshift into Tower Bend, a fast right hander, I selected 5th instead of 3rd and combined with taking a tight defensive line, cold tyres, and scrambling around for the right gear, the rear wheels lost traction and the car went into a spin. No red flag to help me out this time!”

This left our driver in last place, as he could not re-join safely until everyone had passed. Greg had a serious amount of work to do to try to limit the impact and get as many points as possible. Enjoying his fight back through the field, catching and overtaking most cars in his path, Greg even caught three of the leading STs approaching the final hairpin on the last lap. However, this race wasn’t over yet and one of the STs lost control and slammed into Greg’s front corner as it came out of a big tank slapper. Greg still managed to overtake two of the three just before the line taking him up to 4th overall and second in class. Phew, that was incredibly close!

The points table

This now leaves Greg in second place in the points table with the top two drivers having both already played their double points joker. It’s all to play for.

Next up…

The next ST-XR Challenge meeting is another triple header at the beautiful Anglesey circuit (a circuit Greg is much more familiar with) on the weekend of the 8th and 9th of June.

To find out more and book your tickets to support Greg, click here. Or if you want to find out more about the Challenge and support Greg at another meeting, click here.

Share this post, show your support for Greg and let us know what you think of the Tyres On The Drive car, the design or even the Challenge. We’d love to hear from you.