Laura’s goals were set right from the moment of landing in India for the last and final round, she was determined to finish on a high in the MRF Championship. Laura improved massively throughout but felt that her results up till now hadn’t shown her true potential in the championship.

From the moment of leaving the pit lane, Laura had improved tremendously from last year when she raced at the Chennai circuit, so much so that Laura times were looking positive for a good result.

Unable to get everything out of the qualifying, Laura qualified 10th place which wasn’t the result she had hoped for but it was still a reasonablely decent starting place for the races.
Race one, and a huge pileup on the start line caused chaos throughout the grid and with Laura’s car being one for the seven involved and rear damaged took Laura out the race.

Race two, Laura’s start was good enough for her to miss some very near accidents and race easily in the top ten. Unfortunately not long into the race, Freddie Hunt late braking down the inside of Laura t-boned the rear left of the car, elevating it up and over. Laura’s car continued to roll until the car was back upright but this had damaged all four corners and Laura was unable to finish the race. “I was lucky to walk away without a scratch. I wasn’t sure what people were thinking after this point, whether I would even go back out for races three and four. Well let’s just say, no one can stop me racing, ever!”

After the guys from MRF worked through the night to get the car back together, both Laura and car were up and ready for a shakedown early Sunday morning.
Race three, and after the team had worked so hard to get the car back on track, Laura was determined  to prove her strength by not letting this big crash shake her up.
“I had great start that put me in a great position and back on pace. It was a great confidence boost and I am sure people did not expect me to achieve this so quickly.”

Finishing 8^th for race three, this meant Laura would start 8^th for race four. Although she didn’t make any finishing places, her start was good which gave her the chance to keep up with the front pack and even close to overtaking the Championship winner Toby Sowery. “It was great to leave on a high for the team, and myself, especially after the weekend we’d had. I was up there on the times and had the best car race to date. Next time I will get that podium for sure!”

Laura would like to thank the MRF for another amazing championship year and a big thank you to all those responsible for getting her back out of the track for Sunday.

For any onboard or clips from the Chennai race, keep tuned to the website or the Veho website where they will be uploading a highlight video from the weekend.

Thank you to Veho for lending me some amazing equipment for Chennai.

 

Laura was already into the second round of the MRF Challenge which was held at the Bahrain circuit and supporting the WEC (World Endrance Championship).
With Bahrain being one of Laura’s favourite circuit’s to drive and the outstanding atmosphere that the WEC had brought along, Laura had already set herself a goal to achieve a higher finishing result than last years top eight.
With little practice Laura saw herself in the top ten for both of the sessions and when qualifying came around Laura easily jumped into 10^th position, her best car qualifying position to date.
Race one, Laura had a great race, keeping out of trouble and making up enough places to equal her best result from last year, finishing 8^th.  The second race was a little more challenging for Laura as she struggled with a faulty tyre and it dropped her back to 12^th where she maintained her position throughout the race.
Different day, Laura set her sights to improve her results, so when the carnage of race three began, she knew this was going to be a tough race. With many drivers crashing and coming off Laura had managed to get a reasonable start, but when Laura saw an opening, as another driver left the door open, she pushed hard and wasn’t able to stop the car in time and caught the rear of the other driver, damaging her front left and retiring her from the race.
Starting at the back for race four, it was a go hard or go home situation and she drove consistently to have her best finishing result, 7^th.

Laura would like to thank her team and the MRF for another fantastic race, which she enjoys competing in. “looking forward to hopefully getting back out in the car for Chennai in January”

For the beginning of 2014 Laura competed in the last round of the MRF Challenge, a championship that she really enjoyed competing in over the winter period.Once the last lap was completed at the Chennai Circuit, Laura could only hope that she would be back out in the car very soon after. Unfortunately she struggled to find the budget to race this year until her luck changed and she would be able to compete again in the MRF Challenge.This year the championship races will be held in Qatar (night race), Bahrain and Chennai.Excited to be out in the car again Laura couldn’t wait to get to Qatar to start racing.

A difficult but fun circuit to drive, and with Laura being out of the car for almost 8 month, it took her a little time to get back into the swing of throwing the car around. Laura improved every time she got out in the car but an incident with another driver in qualifying saw Laura only completing 3 laps and damage to the car. Able to repair the front left of the car Laura then had to start the races from the back. Four great starts and pushing to make places, it just wasn’t Laura’s weekend, with her just missing out on the top ten every time.

The fourth and final race put Laura up there with the competitive times, and a great start pushed Laura up to the top ten. Within the first lap a driver came from nowhere to try and make an impossible move on Laura, hitting the side of her car and taking her out of the position. Laura carried on and even with the competitive times, the huge Qatar Circuit made it difficult for her to catch the pack back up.

“It wasn’t the best weekend for results but the times were looking good in the end, I am more ready then ever to push for that top five result in Bahrain”. “Driving at night was a very different experience which I would love to do again”.

Laura is now preparing for the next round at Bahrain and will be pushing to achieve that top result.

“I would like to thank the MRF Challenge and JA Motorsport for what is always an amazing championship and atmosphere”.

Benefit and Citroen Laura recently took part in the event held by Citroen cars and Benefit make-up, to promote beauty behind the wheel. Laura adds “two of my favourite things, cars and make-up, sounds like a great combination”. Laura has been determined to promote herself as a driver who is where she is on solely on talent and not because she has the female edge for marketing, but lets face it, if you got it, flaunt it! This was great for Laura to show a different side to advertising and marketing, hopefully this will create the awareness she needs to grab a sponsor over her male competitors.

“Thank you to Citroen and Benefit for such an amazing and fun day.”

With almost a month since her last outing in the MRF car, Laura was excited to get back out again in Chennai. With nerves and excitement Laura worked hard over the break to prepare for her last time out in the MRF championship.

The Chennai circuit proved slightly challenging due to its differences from the other tracks of the series, but with four 45min sessions Laura had ample time to learn the difficult track.

History repeating itself when Laura spent three of the four sessions chasing a gear box problem. Just as in Delhi, the box had trouble shifting up but was later fixed after the third session.
With a working box Laura could now focus on the racing and work her way back through the grid, knowing she couldn’t settle for anything out of the top ten.
Laura received a strong 13th and 9th in the first two races but a problem had been brought to her attention as she struggled to tow up to people on the straight, this was also showing a big problem off the line as the engine didn’t seem to have the gumption like the others.
With the problem out of her hands Laura pushed on and continued to learn from the experience.

Laura’s third race was looking promising as she pulled her was back through the field, unfortunately  luck didn’t last long as her fire extinguisher went off in the tub, affecting her vision. Laura saw no option but to pull into the pits and retired from the race.
Sunday approached and with Laura’s last two chances in the car, she didn’t want to waste a lap.
Receiving another promising 10th in the fourth race, Laura’s last race was now a “go hard or go home” moment.
Looking like she was going to receive another top ten finish Laura pushed a little too hard, slipping wide off the circuit into a pothole causing the rear wishbone bolt to snap, Laura pulled into the pits gutted it was over but extremely happy to have been able to race.

Laura would like to give her thanks to the MRF challenge, JA Motorsport, Mr Anand, Danny King (engineer) and all the help of her mechanics, Ginge, Milky and JJ.
She would also like to thank everyone involved in the Championship for making it an amazing series and of her sponsors that have helped throughout.