Kate races for Team ARD in Buckmore 12-hour

Kate Broadbent was fortunate to get a last-minute seat for Team ARD in the Buckmore 12- hour endurance race. Team captain Gary Coombes popped along to see Kate practising at Buckmore on the Friday before the race, and he was impressed. He kept photographing the timing board to show the other team members Kate’s consistently fast lap times.

The four-strong team dropped to a three-strong team the day before the race when another driver pulled out. This meant two 2-hour stints for Kate. Gary’s tactics meant long driver shifts and the minim number of pit stops.

On the day, Kate pulled out the fastest lap time of the team in practice, and she was asked to do the qualifier (which was definitely not what Kate was expecting). A good run in qualifying, and Kate left Kev to start the race in P9 (out of 28) which meant being on the inside for the first corner, and Kev used the position to his advantage, moving to P7 after the first two turns.

Kev managed to get the team to P5 before other teams started fuel stops. When Kate went on her first shift, she was behind Team Rango in 5th place. But over time, Kate steadily caught up with Team Rango and pulled ahead of them by 17 seconds, only to be overtaken by Maple Motorsport, which meant Kate maintained the P5 by the time she fuelled.

Kris took over and got the team to P3 by the time he had to come in for a mandatory service stop. After an 8-minute service check and new front tyres (which all teams had to do), Kris was back on track (although it was impossible to figure where teams stood until all teams had done their service stops).

And then Kev took over again, leaving the team in P4 after his usual strong and consistent driving. Then Kate was on again, chasing TRX Motorsport Elite. 6 seconds behind. 5 seconds, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then Kate was ahead after 45 minutes of her shift, only be overtaken by Nameless Motorsport (the eventual winners).

Kate fuelled in P4, with TRX Motorsport Elite 10 seconds behind. And then Kris took over and did a phenomenal drive, finishing 64 seconds ahead of TRX Motorsport Elite. P4 overall. Narrowly missing podium, with just over a lap behind the winner. That’s just over a lap behind the winner after 12 hours of driving and 841 laps!