Viking have podium stolen at last corner

The summer heat beat down on the Silverstone track for round seven of the 2018 Fun Cup, but the Team Viking drivers and crew kept their cool and ensured another top five finish.

 Team Manager Mark Holme was instantly impressed with the car in testing, saying: “Aaron had the car set up really well and we were able to set some consistent times in testing.”

 Holme and Nick Nunn carried on that form into qualifying where they set a time to see them sixth on the timesheet but, due to the potluck draw for grid positions, they found themselves starting down in 25^th for the four hour race.

 It was Holme’s turn to drive the 30-minute stint, a drive that turned out to be one of his best of the season so far. When he pitted in, Holme had moved up to 8^th in the standings.

 Nunn then went out and, by setting consistent times on the track, continued to rise up the ranks. When the safety car was called onto the track due to another incident, Nunn and Holme had to pit in early.

 Nunn was to take the final stint and was in fourth and challenging for P3 as he headed into the last few laps. As he was chasing the car in third into Copse corner, the car in front slowed unexpectedly and Nunn spun in his effort to avoid a collision, passing the chequered flag in fifth.

 “Our pit plan was perfect and we set the second fastest time of the day in our pit times,” said Holme. “We also had a successful fuel strategy, which saw us stay with the front runners.”

 Holme said the team was unlucky not to finish on the podium. “We had a slight problem in the fuel pipe which cost us three seconds in the pits; if it wasn’t for that, we would’ve been in front of the other car and finished in P3.”

 Team Viking now sit fourth in the championship, just 28 points off the leader. Next up for the team is Brands Hatch on 8 September.

Fastest Lap: 1:11.008

Laps: 192

Championship Standings: 4th