ROCKINGHAM ROUND - FOSTER AND REDWOOD FINISH THE YEAR ON A HIGH | 03.10.07                        Nigel Redwood and Nick Fosters progress since switching to the Viper half way through the year has seen the duo start to fulfill the potential of the driver pairing, and a dominant performance at the final round at Rockingham finished the year off as they wish to start it next! Qualifying was the first time any driver had attacked the Rock circuit in dry conditions, after testing was all undertaken in wet conditions. Redwood and Foster were not phased by this, and went into qualifying confident of the setup of the car and what they could achieve. Nick Foster qualified for Saturdays race 6th whilst Redwood put the Viper on Row two for the all important Race two on Sunday. Race One Nick started race one and moved from 6th to 5th in the opening laps doing a very good job. Nick stayed close with the leading pack and handed over to Redwood in 5th. Redwood then went on the attack and once the pit window closed, the duo were in 3rd. Redwood was then embroiled in a hard battle with the Lamborghini and Aston Martin of Cocker. Redwood held the Lamborghini off for 15 minutes but with 10 to go the Lamborghini forced its way through, Redwood commented "In the final 10 minutes i had no rear end grip, and the Lamborghini just drove past me coming out of the hairpin, there was nothing i could do". It looked like Redwood had Cocker under control, but a missed gear in the closing stages allowed Cocker past and demoted Redwood to 5th. The duo were happy with the result, but Redwood disappointed that the mistake had allowed Cocker through. Race Two Sunday race two was important, as Redwood had forty eight guests attending, a mixture of family, friends and sponsers. The guests had a tour of the garage, a pit pass, grid walks, access to the press conference and full hospitality all day.  Thankfully a great race result by Redwood and Foster meant that the guests got the most out of the day and went home very happy. The team made changes to the car on Sunday morning to try and counter the rear end grip problem that the duo suffered after 50 minutes in race one. And the changes worked! Redwood started and in the first corner melee emerged in 5th. Tommy Erdos in the Ascari had forced his way into 4th and Redwood was not happy. Redwood soon forced his way back to 4th and set about chasing down Cocker, setting the second quickest time of the weekend in the process. After 25 minutes, Redwood was in 4th just behind the leading pack and Cocker. By this time, Bradley Ellis, Team RPM championship contender had made progress from a grid slot of 7th, to be in 5th just behind Redwood. Redwood let his team mate through to do battle with Cocker, for the overall GT Championship, which would ultimately be decided in race two. Redwood handed over to Foster after 30 minutes in 5th, knowing that a podium was on the cards, Redwood commented "Myself and the team knew we were in good shape, i had handed over to Nick and we were in the lead group only 10 seconds off P1. I knew that the majority of cars ahead would drop off the pace following the driver change, and I knew Nick had great pace and was confident we had a setup that would work to the end of the race. And I was right, Nick delivered in bucket loads, and towards the end of the race was the quickest car on circuit, and he was able to reel in the leaders" Nick in fact drove from 5th to 2nd and could have challenged for the lead, had it not had been the sister Viper of Alex and Brad that held the lead. The result saw the first podium for Redwood and Foster, the first one-two for Team RPM, and saw Bradley and Alex win the British GT crown. A great weekend for all! - ends - << back to news