Last night saw me compete in my third round for M&M Racing in the TORA LeMans Seies 2010 in the M&M Racing Rizla Mazda Lola LMP2 car.

This round saw another change in appearance for the Mazda Lola in the form of a special livery tweak from the origional Rizla paintwork we used at Round 1. This saw our usual "Rizla" Sponsor replaced with that of "Asparadink" Whose Japanise logo's adorned the sidepods and rear wing of the Mazda. Another addition to the paint was the Logo of my tuning company and traditional team home of Sam Billing Racing (SBR). After the Event's of the Suzuka Round the car needed a complete rebuild as the Chassis was damaged in the accident. A new tub was shipped over from M&M Racing's headquarters in Scotland for the car to be rebuilt upon using the rest of the parts salvaged from the origional chassis. However with M&M Racing not having their own Workshops in Japan, and Suzuka officials wanting us to vacate the pit area, The car was taken to SBR's Workshop at the foot of Mount Kaido to be rebuilt.

With the car rebuilt we headed to Motegi for Qualifying in the TLMS and so began our now typical luck in the TLMS.

"I pulled off to the side and slowed down to let the faster LMP1 cars past and find some free air for myself, just before turn two i was hit from behind by XTI Avenger who was looking down in the cockpit at the time and making a brake balance adjustment and just drove straight into the back of the Lola Mazda, destroying the engine and removing the rear wing."



"I Limped the car back to the pits and the team dropped the engine out and bolted in a new one in record time, however the damage was too much to mount a new wing and so we headed back out to do the best we could. I eventually qualified at the back of LMP2 and 4th in lobby C, meaning i was in with the GT1's for the race."

The race was thankfully quiet, with the staggered start seeming like a brilliant idea providing a safe gap between the Two LMP2's of myself and Avenger and the GT1 cars which outqualified the broken LMP2's.

I managed to pass the GT1 Aston Martin DBR9 of DMR Switch just after turn one and quickly rocked up to the back of Avenger's Acura and WWR Chillz' Nissan GTR JGTC. Avenger was struggling with a bit of first lap nerves and hesitating passing the GTR and so i tried to make my move past the pair of them.... until Avenger shut the door tight with me up the inside and having to back right out of it...



Avenger managed to make the pass just before the esses several corners later before i inturn blased past the GTR on the next straight having lost alot of momentum and time getting out of the way of an incident.



It was now a case of Catching Avenger, easier said than done after the gap he'd built as we battled through traffic. But i started to slowly reel in the XTI powered Privateer and a great battle ensued between the fast through the corners Acura and the devestating down the straights Mazda. With the pressure mounting on Avenger, he finally made a mistake allowing me to slip through and into the lead.



Where i managed to stay for the rest of the race, getting through the very helpful GT1 cars easily and cleanly and only loosing the lead briefly during the pitstop phase, before the Acura spun infront of me, unseen by the cameras.

And so i finally acheieved the quiet damage free race i'd craved all season, finishing on pace with the rest of the Class, only loosing out by the lower starting position.

"Were back in Europe for the next round in a month's time and so far Italy has been kind to me, providing me with a win in the TRC, hopefully Italy will be kind again."

The Mugello Track should suit the M&M Mazda Lola well with lots of long straights to stretch its very long legs and with a low technicality to the circuit the Mazda will hopefully do well again, if we can survive qualifying and the race and string a run together we will finally be able to show our true pace.... something which sadly still remains hidden after 3 unlucky rounds....

But the tables are turning and hopefully Italy is where things will finally start to work out for me and the M&M Racing Rizla Mazda Lola.