Having taken my first podium at the first round of the British Talent Cup I was feeling really confident going into round 2. Since the first round of the BTC I had raced at round 2 of the European Talent Cup in Valencia where I crashed out of both races whilst battling at the front and leading the race at one point and I also had a training weekend over in Spain. I raced at Donington twice last year in the BTC but it was the GP circuit rather than the National circuit so I had to learn the new bits but also work on all my references as I wasn’t doing that properly last year.
The weather was warm and sunny for the Thursday practice and I planned on just concentrating on setting my references and markers over the two sessions. We made some changes to the engine braking and suspension through the practice sessions and finished both in the top 10 despite feeling a but uneasy with some of the changes that were made on the bike.
After my new mechanic on Saturday we decided to make some more changes for qualifying. I was a bit nervous about this in case I didn’t like them but Jose said if it didn’t work I could come in and they would change it back. I knew right away that the changes had made a good difference but it took a while to get used to. I stayed out for the full session trying to get a good rhythm and hit my markers while building up my confidence. After taking time to get used to the new setting I was sitting 11th but with 5 minutes to go I pushed harder moving up to 6th and then on my last lap put myself 2nd for another front row start.