Andre Lafond: Finishing on top at Donington!
A great weekend at Donington! I started off strong with very good pace in testing. Consistently well clear of the official lap record. We made tweaks and improvements throughout the day which set us up well for the weekend ahead. The weekend was also bolstered by what can only be described as a feast for dinner on Saturday night, capped off by a cake prepared by the in-house master chef.
I qualified in P5, a solid spot to start the weekend. It was a great battle for a podium in race 1 with some great pace, but I came home P4 but third in class. Race two was more of the same, with a large battle for podium spots. I was sitting in P4 on the final lap when some unfortunate lapped traffic intervened and dropped me back a few spots, crossing the line 5th in class. Still a pair of solid results but neither were the podium or win that I was looking for. A lucky draw meant I would start race 3 on pole! I knew that I had the pace to win it, but I needed to get a good opening few laps, and minimize any possible mistakes. Being the final National race of the season, the atmosphere on track was also tangibly different.
I Fell back to second initially as Smith got a slightly better jump on the start, but I reclaimed the lead a few laps later. With solid pace and consistency I built up a gap to the chasing pack of cars. Despite some late pressure we held it through the rest of the race! Made the widest Ray in the paddock to defend from Colin for the final few laps. But throughout the race it was a fun fight on the podium between myself, Colin, and Rory Smith. Ending the season with a 1-2 for Ammonite Motorsport! In addition to making history as the first Haitian American driver to win a race in the series.
Putting in the work behind the scenes day in and day out will always give you something back. I feel like this weekend was the boost of self confidence that I needed, which makes the future even brighter! I have learned and improved a lot this year and it is great momentum moving forward. It also felt very special to represent such a fantastic team on the top step of the podium. Throughout the year the Ammonite family has been stellar, from the cars to the food. I am also very grateful to have been teammates with Brin, Colin, and Shawn for the National calendar. I have learned so much from each and every one of them, and I am happy that I can call them my friends.
To everyone at team Ammonite: Andy, Rianna, Ben, Colin, Shawn, Brin, Bruce, Sue, Steve, Toby, Adam, Luke, Matt, Ben, Alex, James, Kelvin, Craig, Gavin, Josh, Thank you! My first full year in cars has had its fair share of ups and downs, but these guys made every day better. I feel very grateful to be chasing my dream, surrounded by such great people.
- Andre Lafond