Zelos battles on after frustrating weekend at Oulton Park
Monday 20th June 2022Dan Zelos experienced a weekend of highs and lows at Oulton Park in June as he competed in rounds 7 and 8 of the Mini Challenge championship.
Things got off to a positive start in practice as Zelos achieved the second fastest time in his Davanti-sponsored Mini.
However, qualifying wasn’t so straight forward, with a red flag stoppage and a slower single-lap pace putting him in eighth place.
Race one kicked off promisingly, as Zelos made up two places immediately. He then edged to fifth as he successfully overtook Lewis Brown and ended on a high for race one.
However trouble began in the formation lap on race two, as front-left suspension failure set in, hindering his chances of a podium finish and leaving him fourth in the chase for the championship trophy.
Dan said:
“I was very happy with my performance in the race; I got up to sixth off the line, and pulled off a satisfying switchback move on Lewis [Brown] heading towards the Knickerbrook Chicane later on.
“That represented a solid improvement upon qualifying, and if it wasn’t so difficult to pass at Oulton, I’m pretty sure we could have finished even higher than fifth. The car was filling me with confidence to really attack, so we felt like we were on the front foot going into race two until the suspension issue stopped us abruptly in our stride.
“We had a lot of guests there from Davanti and other sponsors on Sunday and it was gutting that they never got to see me race, especially as I knew we could have moved forward again – I thought we might even be able to go for the win, so it was hugely disappointing not to get the chance to try.”
Dan will race again at Knockhill on 29th-31st July.