Monza 1000kms, Italy, 2008
27 April, 2008

QUICK RACE REPORT....... The team came to Monza with high hopes and a second, new chassis making for a 2 car Creation-AIM entry. New drivers Robbie Kerr and Bruce Jouanny were drafted in to make for a very strong #14 car entry, while JC-W and Stuart Hall continued in their regular slot in the #15 Creation CA07-AIM. With some significant development improvements since the opening round, the 2 'electric blue' Creation's were both performing well and it was looking like we would manage to have both cars in the top 10 for qualifying. Then, when we least expected it, JC-W had a heavy crash at the entrance to the Ascari Chicane. The car got loose under braking (a component failure was found to be the culprit) and from then on Jamie was a passenger. The Creation impacted the tyre wall hard after getting airborne 'on the way there'. Thankfully it landed the right way up and JC-W was able to extract himself quickly and out of harms way. he was checked out immediately by the professional circuit medical crew and was then sent to hospital in Monza for CT scans. His back had suffered a number of fractured and cracked vertabrae and he was to miss the next few races, including Le Mans. The car, which at that time was the least of our concerns, was withdrawn from the rest of the race weekend. Before the crash JC-W had qualified the #15 car in 7th place. That left us to move Stuart Hall to the #14 car to share with Kerr, who had qualified it in 12th overall. So, with the dramas of qualifying behind us we entered into the race with some trepidation, but quickly the team's focus was on the event itself and Robbie mad a good start, maintaing position and was able to pick off some of the other LMP1's in his first stint to move the brand new Creation into a decent 9th place before handing over the Stuart. Stuart, eager to uphold honour for his injured team mate, set about driving the race of his life. That inclued seeing him mature as a driver. He took on some of the world's best sports car drivers and managed to secure 3rd place by the end of the 5th hour. With one hour to run, he was locked in an epic duel with Christophe Tinseau in the Pescarolo LMP1, but impotantly he was driving very cleanly and sensibly during this stint. On the penultimate lap he came under enormous pressure from Tinseau, who in a last gasp manoeuvre dived down the inside of the Creation at the first chicane and muscled his way past. Stuart remained as calm as anyone could be in that situation but was unable to grab the 3rd place back. Though naturally disappointed to lose the team its first podium of 2008, he did himself and his team mate proud.

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