Brands Hatch; April 2019 The new season has finally come around and what a brilliant opening round it was for Luke and the Garrett Trucksport team!
The team arrived at Brands Hatch late Thursday night so that they were set up and ready to go for the practice sessions which took place throughout Friday. Practice didn’t go as planned for the team, as the truck underwent some turbo pipe issues which meant they were down on power, but when the session was over and the Truck was back in the paddock, it wasn’t too long before the team resolved the issue.
Saturday was a very important day for the team as the fresh-looking race truck wentfor a thorough inspection and scrutineering session where every nut and bolt was checked. The truck went straight through without any issues which was brilliant news especially for Luke, knowing that he had worked so hard on everything since last season’s finale back in November.
Then before, they knew it, Sunday had come around, which could only mean one thing - it was race day! Luke and the team woke up raring to go and gave the truck a final once over before their qualifying session - which went absolutely brilliantly with Luke setting the pace and sealing pole position for the first race. The first race saw Luke make an absolutely incredible start as he started to pull away from the pack. Unfortunately, the turbo pipe gremlins returned and the pipe ended up having a split in it which wasn’t great but Luke continued the race and still ended up finishing 2nd.
Race two soon came around and saw Luke starting the race in the middle of the grid but this didn’t worry Luke as he had 100% faith in his vehicle and he knew that the podium was in his sights. The racing action was outstanding and both the team and the crowd were on the edge of their seats throughout as Luke battled hard with Steve Powell all the way to the finish line but unfortunately Luke ended runner up of the dual, finishing the race on the second step of the podium.
Race three saw Luke starting on pole position again and, as soon as the red lights went out,Luke and the truck were flying. Luke led the whole race and, when the chequred flag was waved, Luke had set the fastest lap and was 16.1 seconds ahead of 2nd place Steve Powell. Luke said to the team after the race had finished ‘it was like the truck was on rails.
Race four was another unbelievable and entertaining race. After some bumping and crunching and an early restart the action was well underway and Luke was, again, flying. Not only did Luke achieve another victory, he also set his fastest ever lap time around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit - completing a lap in 1:01.396 seconds!
That concludes the opening weekend and Luke and the team would like to say a massive thank you to all the sponsors for everything they have done to make the season possible. Their aim for the season is, not only to do themselves proud, but to do their sponsors proud and help to share their companies names.