USA: Philip Major Lime Rock Friday notes

Rain, Rain, Go Away.

Rain washes-out qualifying for Philip Major after impressive practice sessions.

With every winter test and the opening two rounds of the Formula BMW USA championship blighted by changeable and bad weather, it was almost inconceivable that lightning could strike for a fifth time. However, by mid-afternoon at rural Connecticut's Lime Rock Park, there was actual lightning in the surrounding hillsides as the heavens opened once again.

"The key was finding where there's traction and where there's not." Said Philip Major of the sunny morning practice session, although by the afternoon all the valuable track information he'd gleaned was literally washed away and all he could do was joke that "Now I know where the puddles are!"

Not that he had wasted the wet session, instead the Canadian returned to the track and relearned the optimum racing-line on a wet surface, later explaining that "I tried different lines around the track; the inside, the outside; trying to find where the grip was."

As ever, Major was looking good while the conditions were at their worst and he was eagerly anticipating the qualifying session, but with the relentless rainfall turning the grass around the track into a quagmire - thus preventing rescue trucks from retrieving stranded racecars - the powers-that-be decreed that qualifying would be abandoned; that the starting grid for round three would be decided upon current championship positions.

"The track conditions were too bad, which was unfortunate, and I'm a little bit frustrated," admitted Major that evening, "I think we could have qualified well, but I won't let it affect me, I'll drive just as hard tomorrow."

-bond