Reuben Lowe, driver of the #25 Pitlane Development Peugeot 107, enjoyed a successful weekend at Snetterton for Rounds Three and Four of the Student Motorsport Competition, part of the BRSCC Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship. The East Sussex-based driver recorded solid top ten finishes in the SMo class in both races and moved up the Competition title standings from 16th to 12th place.
Preparation Pays Off in Qualifying
After extensive work in the sim to gain track knowledge ahead of his visit to Norfolk, Reuben Lowe qualified 13th in class and 29th overall after Saturday’s 15-minute session with a time of 1:43.657, recorded on his fifth lap of eight.
“With just preparation on the sim and no testing, I was pleased with our results in qualifying,” said Reuben, in conversation with P1 Production’s Caiti Belcher. “The biggest problem for me was traffic with such a big grid but I felt the pace was definitely there and I had a lot of confidence in the car and how it felt on track.”
Resilience in Race One
With the field divided into three groups due to the popularity of the CityCar Cup, Reuben started 19th on the overall grid and 10th in class for Race One. Reuben got a solid start and had moved up to 17th overall and ninth in the Student Motorsport Competition class where he remained until lap eight. Showing he was quickly getting to grips with the Norfolk circuit, he clocked a best lap of 1:42.285 on his final tour – 1.732 seconds quicker than his qualifying time.
“We had a very good start to Race One and it looked like we made up a lot of places in the early part of the race,” said Reuben, speaking with Caiti Belcher of P1 Productions. “We had some contact around Turn 2 and it definitely slowed the car down. The team worked very hard to get the car fixed again ready for race two so, yes, while the race could have been better, it could have been a lot worse.”
Equalling a Career Best
For Race Two, Reuben lined up on the tenth row of the grid. Lowe was running in 17th overall and 7th in the Competition class before the safety car was deployed. Following a post-race penalty for a fellow competitor, Reuben was promoted to 6th in class – equalling his best Competition result since his debut at Brands Hatch.
“I didn’t get the best of starts but we did make up a few places with the race going well before the safety car came out,” said Reuben. “Due to an incident behind the safety car, we were moved up to P6 in class. The team and I were very happy with the result; it was a solid race so I’ve taken a lot of positives away from our Snetterton weekend.”
Eyes on the Home of British Motorsport
With the CityCar Cup grid now looking forward to a trip to the Silverstone National circuit in June for Rounds Five and Six, Reuben will be focused on his race preparation as the season moves towards its halfway point.
“I’ll be spending a lot of time working on the simulator at SimPark in Uckfield because their coaching and support has helped a lot with my track knowledge and working out the best lines,” he said. “I’m also going to be reviewing footage from recent CityCar Cup races at Silverstone to improve my racing knowledge of this iconic circuit.
“Overall, however, I am very pleased with the progress that Pitlane Development and I made at Snetterton. It’s clear that we have the pace to challenge the frontrunners but we just need to be a bit luckier in qualifying!
“Ivy Care Dementia centre has supported me all the way so far, from logistics to finances, and I can’t thank them enough for their backing. Similarly, training on the simulators at SimPark in Maresfield, East Sussex, has helped massively with learning the circuits, so a huge thanks to them as always!”
Reuben Lowe will be next out on track at Silvestone on June 13th and 14th when the BRSCC Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup, incorporating the Student Motorsport Competition, competes on the National Circuit. The double-header weekend will follow the same format used at Snetterton where the field will be split into three groups with each group competing twice over three contests.
