Testing Conditions work in Team Viking’s favour
17 October 2019
Perfect strategy sees Viking climb the standings
In wet and windy conditions, Team Viking use the right tactics to finish the season on a high
At the season finale, a four-hour race at Oulton Park, Team Viking played the perfect game to finish the season strongly and claim fourth in the championship.
It has been a season of two halves for Team Viking this season. Due to circumstances out of their control, the first four races of the season were write-offs, with mechanical issues and other drivers knocking them off the track, they were down the leader board. But after Zandvoort the team were starting to perform to their full potential and in the next four races took a fourth, two thirds and a race win. “Before the final round, we were in sixth in the championship,” said Mark Holme, the Team Manager and driver. “We knew we couldn’t win going into Oulton Park, but we had a slim, outside chance of finishing third.”
Friday’s testing was wet and race day’s forecast said it was going to be dry, so lots of teams didn’t use all the time allocated, but it was good practice for Team Viking to hone their skills before the season finale.
The team was drawn 10th on the grid for the race and Nick Nunn was to take the first stint. It was a dry track and Nunn had a great start. When he brought the car into the pits, he was in P6.
The strategy was working from the first pit stop and Holme pulled out of the pitlane in third. During Holme’s stint, the weather changed dramatically and the heavens opened. Holme was able to keep up with the front runners, but with the bad weather came carnage on the track. The safety car was called out and there was lots of contact. In Nunn’s second stint he was hit five times, but managed to keep on track.
At the start of the last hour Team Viking were down in P10. But the team were quick thinking and changed their strategy for the last put stop. Due to the amount of time the safety car was out meant that it reduced the amount of fuel used in the car. Jack Didcot, the pitlane manager, decided to save time and not refuel. Holme pulled out for the last stint in fourth and was able to keep that momentum and passed the chequered flag in fourth. This result was enough to see Team Viking fourth overall in the championship, a fantastic finish to the season.
Team Viking will be back for the 2020 Fun Cup Championship.