First week of ETC is here finally! The tension around the ETC paddock is high and a different atmosphere to that of the BTC paddock. Some of the riders competing here will undoubtedly become the best in the world within a few years and it shows. Already in the carpark, the trucks and equipment that they are unloading into the pit boxes shows the level and money that is invested into the sport in Spain.
Matts goes into the weekend with a better idea of the expectations than he did last year. In free training sessions on Thursday, he bettered his times from last year by 1.8 seconds and then on Friday again the same. But already to get through qualifying on Saturday you would need to be even faster than the strong times of last year and with 50 riders trying to qualify for 30 places is was gong to be tough.
The group is split into 2 and Matts will ride in group A. They are first out on Saturday morning, which gives a slight advantage as it was cooler. He knows if he’s going to qualify the lap has to come within the first 10 laps before the tyres drop off and on lap 7 he puts in a great lap to push himself into eventually combined sessions P11. Later when group A and B are combined he gets a start grid place of P20. Happy enough with this, although he knows the race will be tough.
On Sunday there is a warm up and 2 races, so physically very demanding especially as it was so warm. Race 1 saw him loose a couple of places on the start and get pushed wide into the first corner and into the gravel. He lost a lot of time but picked up and after a chaotic race in front of him which saw half of the group crash out he surprised himself and the team by coming P15 and earning 1 championship point!
Race 2 he gets a bad start and looses a lot of places into the first corner, although he finds some pace and gains some places back. He rides a better race and ends with less of a gap to the leader than in race 1 to end P22.
Overall the weekend was positive, there is definite progress from last year! The aim was to qualify here and that goal was achieved, in Valencia we will have the same goal and possibly try to bridge the gap to the top 18.
Matts was happy with some parts of the weekend and knows what he needs to work on to improve for the next time……. Valencia May 22nd!
Thanks to
Stirlings racing team
Arai
Hoffmann groep
Bracket official
Hendriks sporthorses
Jurg Elend
Marc Boes
Retropersonnelsdiensten
Gubbels autobedrijf
