Season offers driver Matty a Silver lining
MATTY GRAHAM hopes to get back into top gear in 2022 after two races at the home of British motorsport were the only drives of his 2021 season.
Graham made a guest appearance at Silverstone for Stocktonbased Redline Racing in the British Touring Car-supporting Porsche Carrera Cup.
The Stamfordham-based driver was scheduled to compete in the European GT4 Series after sealing the rookie championship in 2020’s domestic Porsche Series.
However, the withdrawal of a key sponsor on the eve of the season left the Northumbrian stuck in the pits.
Receiving an unexpected offer to drive from Redline team principal Simon Leonard, Graham showed in the pre-event test his enforced absence had done nothing to dull his skills.
He lapped the national layout of the Northamptonshire track just a tenth of a second off the fastest driver of the day.
Carrying that pace into the weekend’s qualifying session, the 25-year-old remained less than a tenth of a second off the pole-setting pace and was optimistic of a good showing in the two races.
After making up a place at the start in the first race to move into fifth, a lengthy safety car period used up ten minutes of the race’s duration, preventing any further progress.
As the race got back underway, Graham began to turn in personalbest laps as he battled for fourth before a second safety car resulted in the race being called off with 10 minutes remaining.
Starting fifth in the day’s second race, a thrilling opening lap saw a battle with 2020 rival Will Martin around most of the circuit, with a lock-up into Woodcote corner deciding the fight and dropping Graham to sixth.
Getting a place back after Max Jewis ran wide, Graham began charging and closing down the gap to the fight over the final podium position between Martin and 2020 champion Harry King - but ultimately ran out of laps to make his return a silverware earning one.
However, after facing the prospect of a full year with no racing at all, it was a meeting Graham nonetheless enjoyed.
He said: “The big thing for me was to experience what it was like with a big crowd in attendance, which I missed out on in 2020.
“You always think you are going to go in and blitz it but realistically I was coming into a season midway through where everyone was at their peak and I had been out the car for almost eight months.
“Getting on the pace was not the hardest bit, it was the race scenario - especially at the start when the car was moving around a lot more on the cold tyres.
“Feeling confident and comfortable with that was the hardest bit to get used to again.”
He added: “Race one was cut really short so race two felt like it was the first one.
“It felt like a podium was on the cards but I messed up the first lap on the cold tyres and it slipped away.
“It was a good solid return, I was happy with the pace, to go in and be really close in qualifying to the pole time which was a pretty decent effort.”.