Season over but Sam already looks ahead
SAM Randon is already looking ahead to next season after a premature end to his GT Cup campaign.
A combination of a crashdamaged Porsche and an injured co-driver in Richard Marsh meant that they had to pull out of the Donington round of the competition in September.
Marsh crashed unfortunartely at Silverstone, spinning the car when he touched a kerb in the first endurance race of the weekend.
That came after Randon had added maximum points in class in the sprint race on the day and the pair had gone to Silverstone leading their GTB class and fourth overall, ahead of many much more powerful cars, in the championship.
Missing the four races at Donington effectively finished their bid for the class title and the overall championship was already long gone due to the poor finishes at Snetterton and Silverstone.
So, with one round to go at Snetterton in Norfolk, the Ashbourne pairing chose not to compete.
They had been able to welcome sponsors and guests back to the garage for the first time since the pandemic struck for the ill-fated Silverstone round.
“Then there was a double whammy missing Donington as, being our local round, we had already arranged to host a couple of large groups of guests, so we had no option but to cancel them too,” said Randon’s father, Neil.
Sam added: “It was a tough decision to finish the season early and while the Porsche was still in pieces I did have a few opportunites elsewhere with other drivers and teams.
“We love to race but it made no financial sense to race for the hell of it.
“We couldn’t use the points in our championship bid so it would have been just for fun.”
On a more positive note Sam’s links with Team Hard, whose Porsche he and Marsh had been driving, enabled him to fulfill sponsor commitments by hosting a group at the Donington round of the British Touring Car Championship at the weekend.
“I think they enjoyed it,” said Sam.
“We weren’t racing but had more time to show them around.”
A positive to come out of the season is that Randon has enhanced his name in the GT paddock with some superb drives and results and he says next year is already looking positive.
“We are exploring quite a few opportunities for next year already,” he said.
“We have some work to do to find new partners and sponsors, as the pandemic changed everything for us. “But things are looking up. “It’s going to be a long winter though, waiting to get back out there.”