JONO LESTER PERSONAL REPORT
2007/08 BATTERY TOWN PORSCHE GT3 CUP CHALLENGE

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Round Five
Timaru (Levels) Raceway
29 February ˜ 2 March 2008

Many people would be feeling sorry for themselves if they were me right now. I'm not. If anything, I'm sad. Sad that my season is over before it should be; sad that my car is in no fit state; sad that its driver isn't either.

On a mental scale, the Timaru race weekend shot off the charts. Going into the event I'd just come off the back of a tough initiation into the Australian Porsche Carrera Cup in Adelaide, though I felt that what I'd learned across the ditch would be pivotal as I returned to home soil. The no-holds-barred racing especially, must have toughened me up at least a little bit.

We had Thursday testing as per usual, and it took a little longer than I expected to re-adapt to the newer 2008-model car that we have here in New Zealand. The nimble, tight, sharp and instant reactivity that it inhibited was a great thing to experience once again; as was getting back onto the Levels circuit where I won my debut Porsche GT3 Cup race last season.

It was no different than I remembered it. Still dusty as hell; still narrow as a public school corridor, but most pleasingly still a great challenge. Much as the Taupo event had revealed, this placed chewed up and spat out our tyres like there was no tomorrow, so a few of my fellow competitors did new tyre runs on the day. We were quite content with running around on a couple of older sets we had acquired throughout the season, and with that in mind the speed and balance of the car wasn't too bad at all.

Friday proved to be a pretty abrupt affair with only the one 20-minute session to my name when it drew to a close. During the laps I did get we learnt a lot about how the car and myself could be dialled into the track conditions, and the data we received post-session only boosted us further, but a split in one of the oil pipes leading into the engine meant not only did we have to sit out the afternoon run; we were also sidelined for the hot laps we had planned for some very deserving Timaru residents that evening.

Saturday morning proved a little more fruitful. It was always going to be a tough ask to take my second consecutive pole position with the way Friday ended up, and I was proved right as I posted the fourth quickest lap time. Not to worry, as more important to me was that in the opening stint of the session I was able to experiment with some setup changes and driver adaptations, which gave us some good feedback for the opening race. I was going to need it, because my team mate Daniel Gaunt was absolutely flying out there. In all honesty, I was suitable worried.

To say the heavens opened in the build up to race one would be a stretching of the truth, but there was certainly a fair bit of moisture around and we took to a drying track where ˜ luckily for myself and Craig Baird ˜ the outside line was dryer than the ‏pole line'. The pair of us made great starts, and despite a brief bit of dirt-tracking to get around Daniel, I sat in second place into turn one. With only one dry line and rain on the horizon, there wasn't to be much passing going on in this race, and Bairdo once again showed his knowledge by gapping Daniel and I considerably in the opening two laps while we tried to find our feet.

Daniel was quicker than me, and I knew it, but I also had in mind that even if I did push a little harder I wouldn't be able to catch Craig out front. And passing? Well, that would be damn near impossible. So, I set to work running my own race and driving in such a fashion that I could hold my position without taking any risks. Daniel certainly wanted it and gave me a bump into the hairpin on the last lap as a friendly reminder, but I was able to cross the line in second for a solid result. The great balance of the car only made it sweeter as I knew I had more in the tank for the next day.

I don't often get visibly nervous for races anymore, yet not since my first races in Formula First as a 13-year old had I been as nervous as I was before race two. The reason was that I knew damn well that if I made a good start, I could lead the race and I'd need to defend Craig Baird for the first time ever. Fast forward to the start and that's exactly how it panned out, but it was the next part that would be tricky.

I've not often been in the position to control the field behind me in any type of race car, and certainly not with drivers as talented and experienced as these filling my mirrors. I found myself having to learn as I went, notably when it came to knowing when to defend my line, and when I could drive as normal. I made a few misjudgements while doing this, which must be what makes Craig Baird so good ˜ and so feared. I felt that he would ˜ and could ˜ make a move on me from anywhere.

Unfortunately halfway through the race Craig ran up the back of me and I developed a puncture which took me out of contention, and despite how puzzled I was to have deserved this fate, I was quickly reassured after the race that I had done a great job and situations such as this had to be taken on the chin and seen as a ‏learning experience'.

Despite a fourteenth place finish, my lap time allowed me to start alongside Craig on the third row of the grid for race three. Avoiding the rat race into turn one I exited the first section in sixth place, which quickly became fifth when Craig spun off the back straight, and then fourth when I overtook Ant Pedersen soon after. I was then smack-bang in the middle of a train of five cars led by Rodney Forbes, with Daniel Gaunt just in front of me. Daniel was able to edge his way past after a few laps of intense pressure, and next it was my turn.

From here is where it all gets a bit hazy, and I feel that I should explain myself a little. By no means would I call this an apology, nor is it an attempt to cover my arse, but there are a number of stories going around as to the cause of the accident between myself and Rodney, and these need to be rectified.

The accident occurred when I made contact with the rear of Rodney's car on the approach to the tight and twisty infield section of the Levels circuit, around three or four laps from the end of the race. I lost my steering as I speared off the track and head-on into an earth bank.

As I clambered from the wreckage and stumbled to the ground with what I would later find to be a broken fibula, my whole world was spinning. I was winded, in a deep sense of shock and the adrenaline was still pumping at an alarming rate. Jumping to a sudden conclusion I thought to myself that the throttle had jammed on to cause the accident. This is the impression that many onlookers got because of the sudden change of direction and speed that the car took on.

The data extracted from the car would later prove otherwise, but even before I had seen this I spent a couple of hours cooped up in a hospital bed trying to piece together what happened. Even at that point, I still struggled to see what I had done wrong. Rodney must have braked early? I thought to myself. No. Not quite.

This is what happened. I messed up. That's it ˜ straight from the horse's mouth, and no other reports, rumours or hearsay should be taken onboard. Never before have I made a blue of this magnitude (it's my first proper race accident and my first injury), but there's always one. The reason I ‏misjudged' Rodney's braking point was simply because I missed mine. At first, hearing this was hard to fathom. I was tucked in close behind him as I had been in previous laps, and I've always been taught to look through the car in front and not at its bumper. In many ways I did exactly that, but this momentary brain lapse was enough to scare the wits out of me as I realised that there was no stopping the machine.

The finer details still don't make much sense, and I'm not interested in trying to explain them anymore. I made that mistake just after the impact, and I won't be doing it again.

While the final round of the 2007/08 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge takes place at Invercargill this coming weekend, I won't be there. Well, I will, in spirit and sheer enthusiasm, but in a physical sense, the only driving I'll be doing this weekend will be negotiating the route down the hallway with the set of crutches loaned to me by Timaru hospital. Never mind that they look as though they propped up Noah on his journey with the ark and they would make a great batch of kindling (yes, they're wooden!), because in this situation, looking on the bright side is the only thing I can do.

Melbourne's next ˜ hopefully. If I heal as I should, then I certainly won't be ruling it out.
Cheers to you all.
Jono Lester #51