IAME Cadet race at PFI – Alfie Slater

Alfie’s next outing was at the third round of the PFI winter series. This was to be Alfie’s first return to the British IAME cadet class in over 4 months.

The weekend had some pretty tough weather to begin with, very wet conditions but Alfie showed some solid pace considering it was a while since last competing in the UK. He was set and ready for qualifying however had to start from the back and then master his way through the traffic. As he was pushing through, an unfortunate situation arose and Alfie caught the side of a competitor and came off at the first hairpin. As Alfie was losing time it was integral that he tried his best to make up for the incident, finishing overall 8th which was a great result.

For the next heat, Alfie was starting out at 14th. This would be the second run in the dry that he had all weekend. Alfie took on the challenge and managed to work his way through the field making up positions and finishing overall in 9th place.

For the second heat, Alfie was starting 13th and was aiming for another successful finish, hopefully in the top ten. Alfie didn’t start off as hoped and was on the outside for the majority of the first lap, dropping down to 21st position. He then started making his way back through, showing some skilful overtaking moves. Overall finishing 14th with a few penalties against him.

Following on from a positive set of heats, Alfie was safe from the B final and was starting in 16th position in the A final. A decision from the stewards to let the race start caused Alfie to have a big gap at the start and neither gained or lost any positions. Whilst trying his hardest to close the gap with the drivers ahead of him, Alfie managed to push through and showed some good race craft. He was working well with some of his fellow team mates to try and get to the next group however eventually running out of laps meaning he crossed the finish line in 12th position.

Finishing his first return back to the UK racing scene Alfie finished positively and showcased a great attitude and showed learning from past experience. It was a strong performance considering the lack of laps he had compared to the other competitors and was now very much looking forward to the next race, the 4th round of the winter series at Kimbolton.