Abreschviller: Une Shelsley Walsh Française

I’ve got to start this post by thanking Swift Airport Parking, had it not been for you guys I think I’d have been driving taking the Eurotunnel to France… Somehow I managed to misread my flight time (by one hour), and then the M1 was jammed solid. If anyone saw me sprinting through Luton airport in flip flops with no makeup, now you know why.

So much for stress free travel in 2017, valet parking literally is a life saver when you arrive by the skin of your teeth and throw someone the keys!

Abreschviller is the only other French round I’m contesting this year that I’ve not previously driven, but thankfully it’s pretty short and easy to learn. In fact it reminds me of a French Shelsley Walsh as it’s basically a (nearly) straight that you take flat (eventually), and a couple of corners, the first bend is very similar too apart from being a right instead of a left. Far from being an easy course to drive though, to be quick here you need a lot of bravery and commitment, it’s full on from the instant you leave the start line.

What really heightened this sensation for me is that after Col St. Pierre where I found a good rhythm, this course just hits you so fast, I felt like I was back driving a UK hillclimb again – it was over before I’d barely taken it in! It snowed here last year and sure enough it went below freezing overnight (I walked out of Basel airport into a hail storm), but we had sunshine both days. I had my first taste of AirBNB which went really well, I was only 5 mins away and the owners left for the weekend so I had the place to myself – not bad for € 20 a night. 

Saturday saw us take two practice runs, it went by in a bit of a blur but I managed to finish fairly well on a 56:745 and 7th in class, the hairpin is tricky as it leads on to the straight and finding the confidence to believe in the downforce here is critical. Sunday started with a free practice, my hire car’s windscreen was frozen solid so I treated it as a sighting run more than anything. The first run of three went well, I went a lot harder and had a moment approaching the final corner, putting a wheel on the grass as I went wide to turn in… it happened quickly and for a moment my heart was right in my mouth.

Run two was quicker still and I got down to a 55:125 to put me in 5th. The telemetry on the car helps no end when you’re analysing each run, there were times when I was sure I’d taken corners flat but the little green bar doesn’t lie, and it means next time around you consciously make a point to keep it pinned. Being within 0.5 of 3rd place I was really fired up for the final run, but sadly I was too early on the gas and lit the tyres up coming out of the hairpin! I knew I’d blown it, and the frustration caused me to make another mistake as I thought about what had happened. Neither Maxime Cotleur nor Corentin Starck ahead of me managed to improve on their previous times, but even so 5th in class (3rd fastest lady) wasn’t bad at all for the second race at a new venue, I was pretty happy with the result.

To top it all off, my teammate Sarah Louvet took fastest lady and 3rd in class in her Dallara F303 with an incredible 53:965, David Meillon won CN3 with an equally banzai time and 4th overall just behind Geoffrey Schatz on a 49:226!

Once again it was a perfect weekend with the team, I found myself completely focused on my driving, most of all at the pre grill & startline where I can just shut everything out and zone into my own little World while everything happens seemlessley around me.

Next up it’s Hébécrevon, another fast sprint that I love – see you in Normandy!