Silverstone 2011

Danny took his first points for the Mahindra Racing team at a rain-lashed Silverstone, bringing his red-and-silver Mahindra machine home safely in 11th after surviving another first-corner incident.

Dannys’s race nearly ended at the first corner, in a repeat of his bad luck at the last race in Catalunya, when another rider lost control in front of him and forced him to slow down and swerve to avoid being taken out.

From then on it was a matter of working his way into the points in the top 15, then concentrating on finishing in conditions that meant fully nine of the 29 starters did not reach the chequered flag.

Danny said:

My start was good, but I almost hit someone coming into the first turn. It really messed me up. When I got to 15th I knew I could get at least one point, and I could see a lot of other riders falling off. My pace was good and there was no one catching me from behind. I concentrated on bringing it home in the awful conditions and managed to secure my first points of the year for the team.

Danny returns to the UK for our round of the 2011 championship full of enthusiasm following the recent improvements in his bike.

Free practice 1, on Friday morning dawned dry and bright, Danny was immediately on the pace, finishing in 8th position.

Free Practice 2, just after lunch looked ominous with heavy rain clouds hovering.

At the start it was dry and Danny continued his morning pace, running near the top of the times.

Then the rain started and the circuit was quickly drenched, however Danny quickly adapted to the conditions and for a while he was running right at the top of the times.

As the session evolved Danny maintained his pace, finishing the session in a very impressive 2nd place.

Danny said:

The whole day’s been very positive. We were going really well this morning in the dry, the bike’s fast and I’m feeling good. The weather was strange: on one half of the track it was pouring down and the other half was still dry. But the grip was quite good, and I was enjoying myself. If we can keep up this good feeling, we’ll have a great weekend.

Saturday again dawned dry and Danny headed into Qualifying.

Danny didn't feel as comfortable with the bike and searching out the best settings took a few trips to the garage.

Then, with his time improving, Danny set his fastest time of the weekend so far, good enough for 15th on the grid.

Danny said:

I was getting a lot of vibration: not from the engine but from the suspension. We tried a lot of things, but the problem persisted. I suspect it may have been a tyre issue, but we’ll strip the suspension tonight to be extra sure. It’s a shame, we could have been higher up, but the race is tomorrow so we’ll concentrate on that now.