Unofficial practice
The day started with a heavy down pour during the early morning. The KRA drivers headed out to their first session with brand new and non run-in slick tires on a wet track. The feeling was just simply slippery.
Start of slippery ride
Last in timing
As the hour passed, the track started to get a little dryer but still damped and the tires took much longer to heat up and run-in. The atmosphere for the first few sessions was kind of slow and calm.
Still going 'slow' and steady
Towards the end of the day, the pace was much faster as the late sun dryed up most parts of the track, leaving some shaded areas being still a bit moist. Alvis was able to get the best of the conditions and make some good runs.
The track was almost dry
From last to first during the sessions
Alvis woke up the next day and the first thing he did was to look out of the window. The road was wet due to the early rain. However, at the same time the sun was shinning bright too. That actually put a smile on his face as he knew that for qualifying, the track would be dry.
Indeed, the track was almost dry prior to the qualification but not without some worrying moments due to the dark clouds which were approaching fast. With that in mind, Alvis changed his strategy from usually going out last to being the first to head out and immediately push a little to bring the heat into the tires. The strategy went really well for Alvis as after just 3 laps, rain drops started to fall and he aborted the 4th lap after seeing the first sector being down by 5 tenths and more rain drops starting to fall.
Starting his qualifying timed lap
Alvis on pole
It was quite unusual to have such an erratic weather during summer with bright sunshine and then suddenly a heavy down pour and back to bright sunshine again and then a very short heavy down pour again. The timing was unbelievable, timed in a way that just when the track was almost dry up, then came the rain to wet the track just before Alvis starts his race.
Finishing 5th on a wet race 1
Roller coaster ride on corner 8 and 9
He thought it was bad for race 1 but things got worse during race 2. On the start to the 1st corner, Alvis was already down to 4th, but he managed to keep his position for a few laps, before getting overtaken by another 2 of his competitors, putting him down to 6th, and finally being overtaken by Sacha on the 6th lap, which put him down to 7th.
Alvis on slick tires going through a very wet corner 3
Approaching the finishing line on the last lap
On Sunday, Alvis did the same thing looking through the window and it was wet. This time without the sun and he knew this time the track would be moist for qualifying.
Alvis did not manage to get a good timed lap during qualifying. He was pushing himself too much and ended up running wide at some corners which were still quite wet. He could only manage 7th.
Qualifying on a moist track with the sun starting to shine
After qualifying, sun the was up and shinning and the track started to dry up quickly. Luck was not on Alvis' side as just immediately after a briefing by the coach, the rain started pouring cats and dogs, and everyone started to wear their rain suits to get ready for a wet race 3.
KRA coach Guy Pansart briefing the drivers
On the depart, Alvis knew he had to not only defend his position but to also go around the 1st corner without any collisions. On corner 2, there were a few karts involved in a collision which Alvis managed to avoid and that put him up into 4th. He continued the rest of the laps and finished 4th.
Alvis in 4th after avoiding the collisions.
Last lap on the main straight towards to finishing line
For a even wetter race 4, Alvis lost a place on depart and dropped to 8th. He held his position well till lap 2 where he lost 2 places in 2 corners dropping him to 10th after he ran wide due to aqua planning. He knew that he had to do something and so he started to push as hard as he could without making too many mistakes. He fought hard but could only managed to gain back 3 places to finish 7th. However, it was still an achievement for him as he was 2nd fastest in timing.
Rain starts to fall again during the race
The rain got heavier towards the end of the race
It was the first KRA event that Alvis did not go on podium. The rain was unbelievably well timed to wet the track just before Alvis' turn to race and it dries up after that. The scenario repeated 4 times throughout the weekend except for the Saturday morning qualifying where Alvis grabbed pole. He is the only one till now that has grabbed 3 pole positions for the 3 race weekends and all 3 were in dry conditions.
It surprises me on how Alvis sees the well timed rain that makes him realise and understand that in order to win a race, you need to be ready for all kind of racing conditions and scenarios. It was a weekend to forget for not going onto the podium but not forgotten on the valuable lesson learned and experience gained. He will return as a better racer.
