The festival started on a high note, with Dan qualifying second for heat 2. After getting ahead of James Tucker at the start a faster starting Dennis Lind took the lead out of paddock hill bend. After a spirited fight James Tucker also made his way back past, leaving Dan to finish 3rd.
The start to the quarter final did not go quite so well, with a poor getaway dropping Dan down to 5th but he quickly dealt with Michel Florie and set to getting past Jack Swinkels. However a last lap move up the inside at Druids ended badly when the Dutch driver turned in on Dan, ending both their races.
Luckily there was no damage to the car, just a lot of work to do in the semi. Starting at the back in 13th with Peter Dempsey and Rogier de Wit who had both also suffered in their quarters, the plan was to work his way through the pack with the target of a top 6 finish. Some quick thinking in the opening lap took him straight up to 9th and he was up to 7th by lap 8. However he was then caught out by an early braking Pieter Schothorst approaching druids and went straight on into the tyres at speed causing heavy damage to the front of the car.
Fortunately while the damage was extensive it was repairable and a huge effort by the boys from Minister meant he could start the final, although the was was ready with only seconds to spare. Driving with only a rough setup on the car Dan put in a sterling effort to finish 17th.
Comments:
"Obviously not the result we were looking for considering our form in testing and the previous couple of rounds. It was an incredible job by the team to get the car out for the final and it did make up for some of the disappointment of the weekend. We've shown we have the pace to be at the front, we just need a bit of luck next year."