Alex Fisher has been on an upward trajectory since the beginning of his rookie Fine Cut Radical Cup UK season, but his maiden outing at Snetterton was mired by crashes and inclement weather (6-8 June).
Saturday was dominated by short, sharp rain showers and the Radical Cup UK field streamed out onto a damp but drying track at the start of Qualifying.
It took some drivers a while to find their feet in the low-grip conditions and Fisher eased himself into the 25-minute session, keen to rebuild his confidence after crashing his Radical SR3 XXR in Friday testing.
Unfortunately, he was unable to gather momentum because he went no further than the first corner in Sprint Race 1, contact at Riches corner sending him spinning onto the grass with terminal right-rear damage, which DW Racing straightened out before leaving the circuit on Saturday evening.
Happily, he had a second chance in Sprint Race 2 the following day (Sunday 8 June), and he was elevated to P8 in the starting order when a rival looped their car on the first formation lap.
Track position was relinquished to the recovering #25 RSR machine of Paul Denning as the field swept through the first right-hander at Riches, but DW Racing’s rookie driver inherited two positions when Denning boxed and John Macleod pirouetted on the fourth run through the high-speed Bombhole.
Fisher was busy playing a rearguard action against the #51 Radical Factory car of Flame Airikkala – the granddaughter of 1979 British Rally Champion Pentti Airikkala – when the race was neutralised, and the pressure ramped up further at the restart.
The Finn repeatedly showed her nose into Riches and was unable to capitalise on a slight overlap into the Agostini hairpin, Fisher standing his ground and keeping a tight grip on P7 while battling wind-induced understeer, only to be hit by a ten-second penalty for a false start.
Happy to have completed a race-distance in a respectable eighth place, Fisher was upbeat ahead of the Radical Cup UK’s 50-minute enduro, which included compulsory pit stops.
He started strongly and went from ninth to eighth by cutting underneath the #41 RSR of Jake Williamson at the apex of the Wilson hairpin on lap one, but positions were reversed the next time around.
The DW Racing driver circulated on the edge of the top ten as the #20 Racing Women entry of Jorden Dolischka and Laura O’Connell and the Radical Factory development car of James Pinkerton closed in.
Both found a way by and a small moment for Fisher on the ninth run through Nelson left him detached from the main pack as the skies began to darken on the approach to the pit window.
Mercifully, the rain stayed away, but DW Racing extended Fisher’s first stint and managed to regain 11th position, which became ninth when two cars clashed and brought out the red flags.
“The Enduro Race was very tricky because I was struggling with the balance and couldn’t find a rhythm, but I also had a lot of fun and managed to cut my lap times significantly,” said Fisher. “I have spent the weekend trying to figure things out piece-by-piece, but it’s a shame Friday testing was compromised so badly. I think I could have entered the races on a higher plane with some solid running in consistent conditions.
“I knew my rookie season was going to be difficult. Reaching a high level in any sport doesn’t happen overnight, but I’m enjoying the process and trying to be realistic. I’ve found balancing the car on the brake and throttle both challenging and interesting. For me, it’s really about understanding the car and how to adapt my driving to different conditions that has had the biggest impact on my performances so far, but there’s so much more to learn.”
Fisher continued: “As I have an engineering background, it’s a super fun, technical process. Maybe it sounds simple, but it’s about finding the lap time and keeping all four tyres on the limit of grip. That’s where the lap time will come with the help of DW Racing’s expert coaches and engineers.”
