FASTEST LAP LITTLE CONSOLATION AS MARTIN CRASHES OUT OF MINI CHALLENGE
“I am not here to finish second,” John Martin had told the assembled media on Tuesday when he revealed his MINI Challenge drive on the Gold Coast. Unfortunately the words would prove prophetic in Saturday’s Race Two.
Moments after setting the fastest lap of the race (2m11.5076s, which was 0.4291s ahead of the next fastest driver, Paul Stokell who was the only other driver in the 2m11s) Martin clipped the tyre wall on the exit of the second chicane with the front left corner of his car and speared almost square on into the right side concrete wall as a result of breaking the steering in the initial impact.
While he radioed his Melbourne Performance Centre engineer Lee Burley to say he was okay, the 25-year-old concerned trackside medical crews when he laid down and appeared to faint following his exit from the MGL Global/Sign-A-Rama machine.
An ambulance conveyed Martin to the trackside medical centre where he was submitted to a check-up before being taken to the Allamanda Private Hospital for x-rays on his wrist which was thought to be broken. Thankfully the x-rays showed no damage apart from a floating fragment of bone, which medicos said could have chipped off in the crash or years prior and sprained ligaments.
“It is a shame, I was having a great time,” said the lad from Blackwater, Queensland. “I was closing in on (Chris) Alajajian but I got too much of the inside kerb and I two-wheeled a split second too long which put me into the tyre barriers a bit on the outside of the track.”
“When I hit the wall on the left it spat me across the other side and I drilled the wall. We didn’t come here to run second so we were going for the win. I guess these things happen sometimes.”
Up until the crash, the former A1GP driver and current Glasgow Rangers Superleague Formula pilot had been looking a likely winner, despite only an average start from grid position four which saw him forced to move across to cover the cars of Stokell and Nathan Caratti.
“The start was okay, I just held position really,” said Martin. “Down into the second chicane (Ryan) Hansford made a bit of a mistake and blocked and I dove inside (Scott) Bargwanna under brakes.”
That left pole position starter Alajajian out in front, from Hansford and Martin in third.
A Safety Car intervention after Brendan Cook was assisted into the wall on the back straight bunched the field and provided the perfect opportunity for another assault at the restart on lap 4.
“At the first chicane on the back straight I got inside Hansford with a pretty cool move,” said Martin. “He looked like he was going to block and block so I went back to the outside to try and get him to move over there and try to cover me and he did. Then at the last minute I jammed it up the inside.”
Lap five saw Martin zero in on the back of race leader Alajajian’s car with fastest lap before the crash put paid to his hopes. The New South Welshman went onto win the six lap event from Stokell and Hansford.
Next race for John Martin is the final round of Superleague Formula at Jarama, Spain on November 7/8.
