Jay Goodwin demonstrated far more potential and progress than the end results showed in the second outing of the 2011 Euro Rotax Challenge at Wackersdorf in Germany, as he encouragingly established himself as a genuine contender not only on home shores but also abroad.
Having endured a nightmarish debut on the European stage with a bruising encounter in the Euro Rotax Challenge curtain-raiser at Genk in Belgium just under two months earlier – finding himself knocked around left, right and centre – Junior Rotax class rookie Jay travelled to Wackersdorf eager to banish the memory of that disastrous weekend with a far more successful one second time around.
“We had been fast enough at Genk – we just kept getting smashed off the track all the time,” explained the highly-rated young Sale-based speed demon. “Knowing that I could no longer fight for the championship after failing to score at Genk meant I went into Wackersdorf with no pressure; I was just going out there to keep on learning, and it wasn’t all that important where I finished. I knew it couldn’t go any worse than Genk had done, either, so I had nothing to lose, really.
“I’m definitely enjoying the racing in Euro Rotax. There are a lot of good drivers out there – the Junior Rotax field really is of a very high calibre. The drivers from Europe and Asia are far more used to racing in the heat than us Brits are, so they can deal with the higher temperatures more easily than we do – it’s totally different to how it is back in Britain. That’s definitely a challenge.
“Also, whilst in Britain you can chuck the kart into the corners, over in Europe you have to ease it in more gently – but I’ve adapted to the different driving style required quite well, I think. The starts are a bit chaotic because everybody just goes for it into the first corner, but other than that, the racing is generally quite clean and very professional.
“Wackersdorf is by far the best track I’ve ever been to! I love the texture and the character of it, and the way it cambers, too. It’s tough to get used to initially, but once you get the set-up right, it comes much more easily. Thanks to Strawberry Racing, I had a great set-up on my kart, and great motors, too, from Cream Racing to pull me round the track.”
One markèd improvement over 2010 is evident in Jay’s attitude towards his fitness, as not only is he now a far more lean, mean fighting machine than he was before, but he also pays particular attention to his diet, explaining that ‘I’ve got to get my nutrition right, otherwise I’ll not only be wasting my dad’s money, but my sponsors’ money, too – if you’re not eating healthily, it affects your driving a lot, and anything that makes me go those few tenths faster is money well-spent’.
Having demonstrated the benefits of that approach in lapping promisingly close to the leading pace during free practice in Germany, the Ashton-upon-Mersey hotshot was certainly on-course for a strong showing in qualifying until the heavens unexpectedly opened and clouded his bid to shine.
“We went out at the start of the session, but I backed off a bit for the first couple of laps to try to find myself some clear space,” he revealed. “Unfortunately, when I finally got going properly, I came down towards the bottom corner and saw the slippery surface flag was out. I saw quite a few drivers skating off the track, so I eased right off and after that because the track was wet in parts, I didn’t get chance to set a representative lap time. The drivers who had set a lap early on were further up the grid, so we couldn’t really judge our true pace.”
Lining up 27th overall in the 57-strong Junior Rotax field – a scant four thousandths of a second adrift of former world champion Ukyo Sasahara, who went on to triumph in the grand final, and up against some competitors as much as three years older than him – Jay gave a more accurate barometer of his real potential in Saturday morning’s warm-up with the fifth-best time. His three heat races – each of which he would begin from mid-grid – subsequently yielded a mixed bag of results.
A poor start in the opening encounter dropped the 13-year-old well down the order, but with a strong turn-of-speed, he was able to battle his way impressively back to ninth at the chequered flag, barely a second shy of fifth place and setting a better fastest lap time than the race-winner along the way; he maturely held his hand up to an error whilst attempting to make a move for eighth place on the last lap of heat two; and he was charging through the field in heat three when an over-ambitious manoeuvre culminated in contact.
The upshot was 22nd on the grid for the pre-final – with only the top 28 drivers advancing automatically – but to put that into context, Jay’s misfortunes at Genk had been such that he hadn’t even made it into the second-chance ‘B’ final in Belgium...
“We knew we had a lot more pace than the results suggested in the heats,” he asserted, “so I was still feeling confident for the finals. I was actually a bit worried initially that I wouldn’t make it straight into the ‘A’ final, but when I found out I was in, that took the intensity off a little, because I knew then I was guaranteed to score some points.
“I got knocked off at the start of the pre-final and sent spinning down to the back of the pack, but I was able to come back through to 19th. The kart felt really good again, thanks to Strawberry, which helped me to work my way up through the field; it wasn’t easy at all – it’s tougher to fight your way through in Europe than it is in Britain – but I was happy with my progress and the way I had driven.
“Then in the grand final, at the start someone spun directly in front of me and I got hit from behind, which forced me to go across the grass and I was left virtually last again. I fought my way back through to 18th in the end, which considering how far I had dropped down, I thought was quite respectable.”
A subsequent three-place penalty for having put a wheel over the white line at the start demoted the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil to 22nd, but he is now on the scoreboard nonetheless and the balance of the weekend was overwhelmingly positive, as evidenced by the eighth-fastest lap time in the pre-final – quicker than that of his experienced, title-chasing team-mate – and some superb racecraft in the face of persistent adversity.
Better yet, the next meeting – at Thy Karting in Denmark – will be uncharted territory for the majority of the field, and Jay Goodwin is ready to come out fighting.
“I was pleased with the weekend, because we showed we’ve got the pace,” he concluded. “If we had just got a decent lap time in qualifying, we could have been easily inside the top ten, and I know next time that if I can cut out the mistakes, we can be right up there at the front.
“Thanks to my dad and Jamie Davidson Scrap Metal Processors who are funding all my European racing, which I’m so grateful for – without them, I wouldn’t be at the level that I am at the moment – and of course thanks also to the team for giving me such a great kart and allowing us to show the speed that we did. The end results didn’t reflect how well I drove or how competitive we were, but there’s always next time...”
