The Tachosys Systems with RAW Motorsports trio of Paul Rivett, Alex and John Macleod, were the pacesetters at the start of the 4hr Fun Cup Endurance race at Croft.
The team had drawn third place in the lottery for the grid. “We have this agreement that it we are drawn in the front three rows of the grid I start and any other place and Alex starts,” said Rivett, who rejoined the team after missing Oulton Park due to his British Touring Car Championship commitments.
As the lights went out for the rolling start Rivett led into the first corner at Clervaux and within a couple of laps was trying to stretch the field.
The gap was just starting to widen when the safety car appeared after six laps and he had to do it all again.
Four laps later and the safety car was out again to add to the frustration and when it time for the pitstop, the gap was still only 0.736 secs.
“It was only my second ever Fun Cup start, but nice to lead the race. The car felt better than in qualifying, but I was just building a nice lead at the first safety car and then the second I thought, not again,” Rivett explained.
Alex was in for the second stint but time had been lost in the stop and they rejoined in 16th.
He soon caught the Greensall Motorsport car, CCS Media and Black Widows and was back to 13th by the 31st lap.
John took over from Alex for the third stint, still fighting to get back into the top 10. “I didn’t lose a place during my stint and got the three cars ahead within a couple of laps. It was my first time at Croft, and I was counting my number of overtakes,” said Alex.
“A bit erratic but I set some good times and there were battles. I’ve not raced here before either,” John added.
At the three hour mark they were 14th and about 30 seconds from that elusive top 10. John had done the penultimate stint before handing to Paul Rivett again to take the car to the flag.
Just before the final pitstop window opened the safety car was out and everyone made a dash for the pitlane .It was fairly chaotic as the crew needed to refuel and the RAW pit box was partially blocked by another car.
With Rivett finally in and rejoining the race 13th, there was time for about 30 laps left on the clock. Having closed on the Greensall Motorsport car he finally got by on lap 121 which was enough to net 11th overall.
Over the final laps he closed on the cars ahead, but was still 22 seconds shy of making it into the top 10.
“It was a good weekend for us, we had some good racing and we enjoyed it,” Alex concluded.
It’s back to Oulton Park for the penultimate round on October 16th.