Well, here we are, a few days over six months since my first-ever diary entry in March. Now in September for the final entry of the 2025 Ferrari Challenge UK Series. And what a season it's been.

It's all over. The final race has ended, the championship points have been awarded, and I'm still trying to make sense of what's happened over the past six months, whilst putting the memories, experiences, and lessons into some form of mental sequence.

In March, I opened my diary prologue with a heading detailing how I was 'professionally lucky'. I still stand by that, because six months on, I have the most overwhelming sense of gratitude for the experience and the opportunity that have been granted to me.

From Total Rookie to Competitive Racer in 6 months

As of mid-February, I was a total rookie to even the idea of competitive motorsport. I didn't have a racing licence, I didn't own a racing suit, nor a suitable crash helmet for competition use. I didn't have a clue about motorsport protocol, the technique of installing slick tyres or the importance of recognising the effects of downforce. Having had years of experience behind the wheel of performance cars around the world, I knew how to drive, and I've developed some handy car control skills on track days since I was a teenager. But the idea of getting into a fully prepared racing car and competing back in the winter felt exceptionally daunting.

Two months later, by mid-April, I had completed Ferrari's 'Ready to Race Program', finished seven MSA-regulated competition races, obtained a Race National competition racing licence, and even tested in the Driven liveried Ferrari 296 Challenge at Silverstone. In an incredibly short time, I learned a great deal, drew upon many years of driving experience, and looked ahead to what was, without a doubt, going to be one of the most significant six months of my life.

Preparing for The Final Round

Ahead of the final round, the Ferrari Challenge UK Series had hosted competitions at Navarra, Oulton Park, Brands Hatch and Donington Park, with the final round taking place at the home of the British F1, Silverstone.

Each round has consisted of two races, and each race has presented a new lesson. The previous round at Donington had ended on a high. Two 4th-place finishes and some great battles had instilled a level of confidence and reassurance that I was 'going okay' and that I had a right to be here.

With the newfound confidence, it meant I was heading into the final round with some optimism and a feeling that I was entitled to feel confident about being in the running for another good position.

A month out of the car

There was a month-long break between the penultimate and final rounds, and so, my driver coach, Miles Lacey, decided it would be a good idea to get some Karting practice to keep my skills sharp.

The other asset in my arsenal for the downtime was our simulator setup, on which I had practised and tested ahead of all rounds of the UK series. The karting was great, and the simulator is an excellent tool, but it's no competition for the real thing. Fortunately, ahead of the race weekend at Silverstone, we had two test sessions on the Friday preceding the event to get back into the swing of things.

Friday Testing - A New Setup

It seems silly to say that a month out of the car was enough to knock confidence levels - especially given the short window of time in which I'd be driving it so far, but I did feel a little rusty when I first jumped into the 296 on the Friday test day.

Unlike most other test days ahead of the event, which have two long sessions divided by an hour-long lunch break, the test day for Silverstone was split into just two 90-minute sessions for the Challenge Series to accommodate the GT Challenge Series car (another Ferrari programme for drivers of GT and GT3 variants), which was also driving at Silverstone.

Ahead of Silverstone, Miles and our chief engineer, Davide, had been discussing a new setup for the car, which included a slightly stiffer anti-roll bar setting and a less aggressive downforce setting on the rear wing. I was happy to comply on the premise that the car should be quicker on the straights, but may require more car control in the corners - something we all agreed I should have been comfortable with.

An additional challenge to the test day, beyond the shorter time windows and the new setups, was that for three days preceding the test, the weather had been abysmally poor. It was bright and sunny on the morning of the test day, but the circuit in places was still very wet following the days of rain, and as a result, it was extremely slippery.

I was out for the morning, learning to drive what was essentially a new car on challenging surfaces, with the knowledge that time was not on my side.

In the afternoon, we made some adjustments and tweaks to the rear wing and found a setting that allowed for a good and safe pace. I ended the day feeling happy that we had two additional free practice sessions on Saturday morning to make final refinements and tweaks ahead of qualifying and the first race.

Saturday - Off to a Shaky Start

I arrived at the circuit on Saturday morning and realised, very suddenly, that the final round of the series was going to be vitally different from the previous rounds. It was busy, and not just a bit busier than usual; thousands of cars were pouring into the site. With the thousands of cars came many more thousands of people - suddenly, there was an audience (a big one!) to consider.

FP1 was a 40-minute session on Saturday morning. It's an essential session for starting to build on lap times. I went out and set a best time of 2:04.3, around 2 seconds off the pace of the fastest drivers. The time was okay, but it placed me in the middle of the grid, and I needed to do better in FP2 ahead of qualifying.

FP2 was an opportunity to improve my lap times, and in another 40-minute session, I went out to do just that - but it wasn't to be. Something about the car didn't feel right. It felt strangely underpowered and wasn't accelerating out of corners as I had expected it to. As a result, my lines and braking points were all off-kilter. By driving off line, I was inducing understeer, and with understeer comes uneven tyre wear - and that, on slick tyres, creates rubber build up. The build-up is better described as lumps of melted rubber that form on the tyre surface when melting and cooling. At 150+MPH, the sensation of rubber build-up, even just a couple of millimetres thick on the tyre surface, is horrendous. It's similar to driving on a cobbled road, but at full speed, and as you might imagine, all confidence in braking performance, precision steering, and accurate corner exits is lost. My lap times reflected that, with times of 2:06.0.

The vibration got so bad that I radioed into the garage and asked to stop. Steven and Bryan, our technicians, got to work trying to scrape off as much of the rubber build-up as possible, and I set off again to try to dial in the laps. But something still didn't feel right. The car felt unhappy and slow, but I couldn't decide if it genuinely was slow or if being a month out of practice with an unfamiliar new setup was causing the issue. But then, all was revealed.

Alarm: Engine Fault

As I reached top speed on the Wellington straight, the car coughed and the dashboard illuminated with an alarm message. The message: 'Engine Fault' flashed up on screen, and all sorts of horrible scenarios immediately started forming in my mind. Was this to be the end of my season, before I'd even had a chance to qualify for the final race?

I radioed through to Miles and Stephen in the pit garage, and I was instructed to return to the pit lane slowly. I returned to the garage where we performed a full shutdown and restart. The fault cleared, but another unexpected message appeared: 'Low Fuel'. We had started the session on a full tank; there was no way that we could have used a tank of fuel in just 20 minutes of driving.

With the team scratching their heads, I was sent back out to see if the fault reappeared. It did, in almost the exact same place. That was the session over, and my greatest fear of the car being out of the competition before the start of the race was starting to show the potential of becoming a reality.

Fault Finding

I walked away from the FP2 feeling utterly disappointed with my efforts and the car's performance, as the team jumped on the car to see if they could determine what had happened. Fortunately, it didn't take them long to find the fault.

A boost pipe on the left bank of the engine had rubbed against a bolt on the top of the strut brace, causing a small hole to form in the pipe. It was this hole that had thrown the turbo performance out of sync, which in turn caused overfuelling and resulted in the car feeling down on power and burning more fuel than it should.

The discovery was a huge relief; it was a quick and easy fix, and the car would be back together in time for qualifying. However, I'd hoped to find some pace in FP2, whereas now I had to push harder in qualifying to get the results I needed. I had to find a better time not only for our starting position but also for my own self-confidence, which had taken a considerable knock.

Qualifying 1

The stress and bad luck of the morning had clearly taken a toll. I was getting into the car for qualifying with concerns and doubts outweighing what should have been preparation and excitement.

I went out to install the new slick tyres and did everything I could to stick to the right lines to avoid the horrors of tyre build-up from earlier. The car immediately felt quicker. The boost leak had taken a significant toll on the engine performance in FP2, and now it felt alive again. I was being pinned back into my seat when accelerating out of the corners again, and I started to find the grip levels I needed from the tyres to get into a groove and set some lap times. But then, a red flag. A car had spun and needed rescuing from the gravel, interrupting the 40-minute session. Then, almost as quickly as the stricken Ferrari was cleared, another red flag caused a second interruption. I was able to get back out on the circuit with around 8 minutes remaining, but the confidence knock from FP2 and the disruption to the session had significantly spoiled my flow. As a result, the best time I could come up with was 2:04.9, which placed me in 13th position on the grid and the 7th row of cars.

'The Waiting' - (My Least Favourite Part)

There's a famous Steve McQueen quote from the 1971 film Le Mans in which McQueen gives the line: "Racing is life. Everything that happens before or after is just waiting." As it turns out, on the race weekends, the 'waiting' is my least favourite part. I was feeling down on my luck, considering the issues in FP2 and the result of qualifying, and when leaving the garage to see what felt like 10,000 people in front of me, I needed to find a quiet spot to get away from it all. Fortunately, my greatest asset for support and well-being was within reach; her name is Amie, and she's my partner.

Amie could see I needed an escape, and so we did just that. We went for a walk to view some of the cars on display and then walked to our hotel, where I could find solace in the comfort of a good old cup of tea. It was just what was needed to relieve the pressure and enjoy some familiarity before returning to the circuit for the race start.

Race 1 - Saturday

You might hope that for my 9th race start of the season, I'd have settled into the environment and allowed myself to enjoy the process... nope, not yet. The formation lap and race start are still thoroughly unenjoyable for me, but it's the most essential part of the race. You can't win the race on your opening lap, but you can absolutely lose it - so, getting the start right is crucial.

All of the cars got off to a clean start, with the order staying the same as qualifying for the first few laps. I found myself caught behind Paul Rogers and Darren Howell, both of whom compete in the lower Coppa Shell class, which raised concerns that I might be stuck in a similar position to the one I faced in race one at Brands Hatch in June, where I was held up behind two other Coppa Shell cars battling drivers who aren't competing in my class. The frustration of knowing I'm consistently quicker than the two cars ahead, but without a straightforward and easy route through, is a real test for patience and skill. Miles, who was watching my race on a live feed from the garage, was doing well to remind me not to follow the lines of the cars ahead. "You are the faster driver, and you will find a way through", he reminded me. It wasn't until lap 5 that the orders started to change. Oscar Ryndziewicz, who had been pushing well in 3rd place, had a big spin after turn 1 on lap 5, resulting in him being stranded in the circuit at turn 2. In the chaos of avoiding Oscar, Callum Leatham in 11th had a minor touch with Darren Howell in 12th, causing Darren to spin out and hit the tyre wall. That was one of my immediate competitors gone, but I still had Rogers to worry about.

Fortunately, on the Wellington straight, I found my way past Paul Rogers and got myself up into 11th place, which allowed me to target some cars in my own Trofeo Pirelli class for the first time since the race start. The first competitor in my sights would be Callum Leatham in 10th place, with Joe Dean just ahead of him in 9th.

The hopes of a top 5 finish were all but quashed by now. The leading cars had found a groove in a pace which I simply wasn't able to compete with, but I had to finish in the top 10 to score points, and ideally, I needed to finish ahead of Leatham to hold onto my 4th place in the overall championship standings.

A safety car appeared for the recovery of Darren Howells' car, which neutralised the race for a few laps. The safety car can be a blessing and a curse, depending on whether you're trying to close the gap or build a lead over your competition. It's also an opportunity to allow the tyres to cool down and for a mental reset. I had a good chat with Miles over the radio, who offered some comments and advice on my driving, and I prepared for the restart, which would leave me with just 10 minutes to fight my way through to 9th place in class and ideally past Callum Leatham.

The safety car was in, and it was time to get to work. Just one lap after the restart through the arena complex (amusingly referred to as 'shit 1' and 'shit 2' due to the complexity and difficulty of stringing the two corners together), I managed to find a better line into the complex than Callum, which allowed me to find a way through. I was now in 11th position overall, but crucially, 10th in class, which meant I had a target ahead of me in the form of Joe Dean, while Callum Leatham was behind me, desperately wanting to reclaim that position and the championship points.

What followed was an additional 7 minutes of fighting. Some opportunities did arise for me to pass Joe Dean in car 12, but I couldn't commit to a safe line to get through. Erring on the side of caution kept me firmly pinned between Joe and Callum.

An unexpected arrival to my wing mirrors came in the form of car 21, Oscar Ryndziewicz, who had valiantly fought his way back up the order from his spin at the start of the race. Oscar took a brave dive up the inside on what would be the final lap of the race, knocking me down to 11th place overall but still 10th in class.

Further ahead, two Coppa Shell cars were competing for 1st and 2nd in their class, with Peter Hunter pushing hard to pass Mike Dewhurst. Unfortunately for Peter, on exiting the Arena complex, he lost control of his back end and spun out, which shuffled the order once again. I was now in 10th place overall and 9th in class. I just needed to hold onto the position to earn the points and stay ahead of Callum. Fortunately, I did just that, crossing the line with a sigh of relief and feeling a little better after having such a shaky start to the day. But hey, there's always tomorrow, right?

Sunday

Sundays are always the quieter and calmer days on the race weekends. With no free practice sessions, it's a case of arriving, qualifying and racing. In terms of lap times and lines, there were still many areas that needed improvement for me. In the first race, there were areas where I was overslowing the car by braking too hard and other areas that could accommodate more speed. Miles had all of these points chalked down to work through, so much of the morning was spent doing that - studying the data and mentally preparing for qualifying and the race.

Qualifying 2

I entered Sunday's qualifying session feeling a little more confident, considerably more relaxed, and in a far better frame of mind to set a better time than I had yesterday. I achieved precisely that with a time of 2:03.7 - a new personal best, which placed me in 11th position on the grid and the 6th row on the grid. It was far from my best performance in qualifying this season, but it was an improvement, and I had to regard that as a positive.

With a generous amount of time between qualifying and the race on Sunday, I was able to relax, chat with friends and family and work through some data with Miles ahead of the final race start of the year in the Ferrari Challenge UK series.

Racing, Waiting and thinking...

While watching the clock and waiting, thinking ahead to the final race start brought a whirlwind of emotions. I'd heard stories from previous year's championships of the final race being slightly wild at the start. This was, after all, the last time most of these cars would have to race in 2025, and for some, it's a last chance horrah to do something heroic.

I didn't fancy taking a chance at anything heroic; I just wanted a clean start, a few battles, and to finish my final race with the car in one piece. When the time came for warm-up and formation laps, I had no idea just how dramatic the following few minutes would prove to be.

Race 2 - Off to a Dramatic Start

The first bit of drama for the final race came just as I was preparing to jump in the car. Our engineer for the weekend approached Miles and me about the possibility of switching to wet tyres. For the 2025 season, we've been blessed with almost exclusively dry weather, and we haven't had any reason to even consider using our wet racing tyres. A heavy downpour around an hour before the start of the race had left some damp patches in the pit lane, but the conditions on the circuit elsewhere were unclear.

I left the pit lane for my warm-up laps along with all the other drivers on the slick tyres. The pit lane, just outside the garages, was still damp, but fortunately, the rest of the circuit was dry.

The warm-up laps were completed, the tedious grid walk was done, and it was time to start the formation lap for the start of the final race. Everything worked as it should have; the tyres looked good according to the dashboard in the car, and I was feeling happy with the goal of completing one last race start and ending the year with the car in one piece.

The Crash

As all the cars got into formation near the start-finish line, Miles clicked through on the radio to talk me through the lighting gantry: "red, red, red, red, red... go-go-go-go!" The rolling start got underway, and I started to look for gaps and opportunities before heading to the first corner, but in a split second, I could see a car ahead going wildly off line.

The out-of-control car was being driven by Haymandhra Pillai. Haymandhra had moved right on the straight in an attempt to pass Mike Dewhurst ahead of him. Mike moved right to defend his line, and the two cars made contact. Haymandhra made a sudden jolt to the right, and his tyres made contact with a painted circuit surface to the side of the track, causing him to lose traction and hit the pit wall. The entire scenario that unfolded next occurred in the space of around 5 seconds, but as is often the case in moments of intense drama, time seemed to slow down.

Haymandhra hit the wall, causing his car to spin out of control. His bonnet detached and flew past my right wing mirror, missing it by inches. Having bounced off the wall, Haymandhra's car was now sliding backwards into the path of my car. I came off the throttle, swerved to the right and managed to avoid being clipped by the sliding car. Unfortunately, others weren't so lucky. Jonathan Satchell, who was positioned directly behind me, was hit on his right-hand door, which propelled him into the tyre wall on the left. Joe Dean also got hit on his rear quarter, causing him to spin out and land in the same tyre wall as Jonathan just a few metres up the road. Another driver, Steve Dopson, was also clipped, causing his front left wheel to detach, yet somehow, despite the collisions ahead of me, to the side of me and behind me, I had made it through unscathed.

Meanwhile, my friends and family are watching the televised live feed in the pit garage. They had all watched the crash unfold on the live stream, but as is the norm for motorsport accidents, the camera operators often catch the crash but then pan away quickly in case of any unsightly injuries. What the spectators in my garage saw was Haymandhra's car piling into Jonathan's Satchell's car, which, like my car, happens to be all black. As far as many of them were concerned, it was me.
I arrived at the arena complex and heard Miles click through over the radio, "Are you okay, are you okay??"
I replied - "I've made it through, no issues at all"
I could hear the relief in Miles' voice as he congratulated me on making it through. He quickly made his way around the garage to explain to everyone that I was okay.

Unsurprisingly, it was a red flag. Four cars were now out of the race, with ambulances parked near the incident to ensure everyone was unharmed. Fortunately, everyone was okay, a credit to the safety of the Ferrari 296 Challenge. All the remaining cars returned to the pit lane, and we waited for the cleanup to begin.

It took the best part of 30 minutes to recover the stranded cars. Media teams arrived to fill time for the live stream, and the excellent marshals frantically ran back and forth to aid with the cleanup. In the moment and in the immediate follow-up, I hadn't allowed myself to consider just how close I'd come to being another of the cars collected in the incident. It was probably just as well, seeing as I'd immediately have to get back into the car for the race start again in a matter of minutes.

Once the cars were recovered and the cleanup was complete, it was time to do just that. The restart was to occur under safety car conditions, which involves all cars restarting in the order in which the race was red-flagged. The start would be a single line procession for one lap, with the safety car pulling into the pit lane at the end and allowing the drivers to proceed to the start line.

All cars made it over the start line and through turn 1, and we were into our final 30-minute race.

Battling for a 4th-place championship finish ...or should it be 3rd?

Throughout the season so far, I've had more than my fair share of good battles, which have seen me finish in the top 10 of every race and even cross the line with a handful of 4th-place finishes. I knew that a podium wasn't likely to be rewarded in my final race, but that was okay. I was up against some incredibly fast drivers, including a couple that had joined just for the final UK round, so my target was to finish with enough championship points to remain in 4th place in the overall standings.

The two factors of consistency and safety are where I've managed to hold my own in this season. The result of this has allowed me to steadily work my way up through the points table towards the top three in the championship standings. I could argue that it's within the top three that I should be, but a significant move of one driver from the Coppa Shell Class up to the Trofeo Pirelli Class would knock me down to 4th.

The driver in question is my fellow Graypaul Birmingham driver, Paul Simmerson, who made the decision to move up from the Coppa Shell Class to the Trofeo Pirelli Class voluntarily between Oulton Park and Brands Hatch. In doing so, Ferrari allowed him to carry across the points he'd accumulated in the lower class in the process - yeah, I know, right?

I'm chuffed for Paul, and I admire his decision to move up to the faster class, but the result of Ferrari allowing him to keep his accumulated points from Coppa Shell (which include points for race wins and fastest laps in addition to those awarded to the original Trofeo Pirelli drivers) is that I'm down to fourth and 'that' is unfortunately 'that'.

Still, a 4th place finish in my first ever proper season of motorsport is not to be sniffed at, and so, what I needed to do was finish the race ahead of my closest competitor, Callum Leatham, to avoid being knocked down to 5th overall.

In the restart, Callum had managed to get ahead of me, and that wasn't okay. I needed to get past him and a couple of slower Coppa Shell cars that were standing in my way.

As I got back into the swing of things following the big crash just 30 minutes beforehand, I was doing my best to stay calm, look for opportunities and find a way through.

Around 6 laps into the restart, as I made it through the 'shit 1 and shit 2' Arena complex, I found myself entering onto the Wellington straight with considerably more speed than Callum and one of the Coppa Shell drivers, Darren Howell. The result of my speedy exit put me very suddenly beside Callum, who, in the moment, was also putting a move on Darren. My car, Callum's car and Darren's car were three abreast along the Wellington straight heading toward one of the most aggressive braking zones on the circuit. I remember thinking, "Well, I'm here now, I might as well go for this", and go for it I did. I had the inside line and braked as late as I dared, which pushed Callum and Darren out to the right and off line. I hugged the apex and found my way past the pair and got myself up into 9th place overall.

The following 20 minutes felt as if the stopwatches had stood still. In previous races, the time had flown by, but today, with a championship leader board in my sights and the man contesting my 4th place just a few metres from my rear bumper, the remainder of the race would be the most brutal lesson in defence of the season.

I am very fond of Callum. We completed our race licence together earlier in the year, and he's progressed brilliantly throughout the season. Callum has even managed to secure two third-place finishes in the season, which was great to see. But today, I couldn't let Callum pass. He needed to finish behind me; otherwise, my already unfortunate 4th-place season would be at risk of ending in 5th.

I spent the remainder of the race navigating past slower traffic while constantly watching my mirrors to defend my position from Callum, who was driving brilliantly.

Eventually, the time was up, and I managed to hold my position for one final lap. Crossing the line on the Hamilton straight in 6th place, ahead of Callum, allowing me to gain enough points to maintain my 4th place in the Championship overall.

And that's it, it's all over.

It's a funny thing trying to think back on and then summarise the feelings and emotions of a race finish, whilst overcoming the effects of adrenaline, a sense of relief and the realisation that the season was very suddenly over.

Just 6 months prior to this very moment, I was nervously getting into our Ferrari 296 Challenge for my first ever test event at Silverstone, and now, I was about to clamber out for the last time - potentially forever.

The keyword that best summarises my season of racing in the Ferrari Challenge UK series is the title itself. It's been a challenge. It has been one of the most significant challenges of my life, but also one of the most rewarding.

I've learned more about car control, driving, strategy and motorsport in the past 6 months than I have in 20 years of previous driving combined. I've entered, competed in, and completed the series, finishing 4th place overall.

It's been a joy documenting the series in written form, and I hope you've enjoyed reading along. We also have a video series following each race in documentary form on the Driven YouTube channel.

The question many of you reading will want to ask is... what about next year? Will we do it again? The answer: watch this space... I really hope we do.

The Thank Yous

This year would not have been possible without the fantastic team around me, all of whom have offered me support, guidance, and, above all else, the opportunity to live and summarise this experience to you in written form.

Phil Hands:
Phil is the reason I'm here; he's the owner of the car and is the man who put me forward as the team's driver. Phil's generosity and trust combine to be one of the most overwhelming opportunities I could have ever asked for. As a child, I dreamed of being a racing driver, and as an adult, enjoying the world of track days and motorsport events, that dream lived on. At the age of 37, the dream came true when Phil offered me the opportunity to drive in my first ever racing series - in a bloody Ferrari! I will forever be grateful to Phil for all that he has given me this year.

Alexis Yates and the wider Paramex Team: Paramex is the brand behind Driven, and there's a broader team within the company that has contributed to support and enable this season to happen. Alexis Yates works alongside Phil at the top of that list, so my thanks go out to him in addition to Chris and Johnathan Hands, who have also been a massive support to me throughout the year.

The Driven Media Team: This season has not only been a challenge for me behind the wheel, but also a significant one for our media team, who have done a sterling job of capturing the races on film and in pictures. Alex Goy and Drew Stearne have been producing films for our YouTube channel, which have been filmed by Reggie Simkevicius and Henry Faulkner-Smith. Henry has also been capturing each race meeting with his exceptional photography, which has featured in all the articles and via social media coverage. Mike Booth has also been providing support behind the scenes with online articles, news stories, and supportive messages while working hard on the news desk for Driven. The support from the team, as they work tirelessly, has been incredible, and I thank them all.

My techs and mechanics - Davide, Stephen, and Bryan: The three gentlemen who have been crucial to my season are the individuals who have kept my car running throughout the year. Davide, our chief engineer, has been an exceptional support since our first test day in Navarra back in April. His meticulous detail in explaining the car, combined with an unparalleled understanding of what it's like to be in the driver's seat, has been priceless. Bryan joined us for each round as a mechanic from Graypaul Birmingham. Aside from being an exceptional technician, he has also been an enormous support to me, the team, and, crucially, to my friends and family who have visited each round. Bryan has gone above and beyond to help me and those around me understand the complexities of the car, providing reassurance, humour, and detail, which have all made me feel much more relaxed in the car. Lastly, Stephen - our lead mechanic. Just like Brian, Stephen has been so much more than just a technician for the season. He's been a reassuring voice, a supportive hand, and more often than not, has been the first and last person I see when getting in and out of the car. Stephen has checked my belts, my safety systems, and my sanity on more occasions than I can possibly count, always in good spirits, always with excellent humour, and always with a big smile. I couldn't have dreamt of a better team to support the car this year. I would like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to Davide, Bryan, and Stephen.

Miles Lacey - The Coach: Miles and I met on a frozen lake in Sweden around 10 years ago, while both of us were participating in an 'Ice Drive Sweden' event. Since then, we've worked together at Driven as hosts on the podcast and in various other capacities. Miles offered his services as a driver coach when the discussions about the Challenge Series involvement began. We both started the season with the understanding that it might...or might not work, but we decided to give it a go, and we haven't looked back. Without any doubt, Miles has significantly improved my driving and has been the most vital person in helping me understand the complex world of motorsport since the beginning of the year. I owe Miles so much for being so generous with his time, detail and guidance throughout the year.

Friends and Family - I've had an overwhelming amount of support from friends and family this year, to the point that I'd be here for hours if I listed them all, but you know who you are. My biggest thanks go to my partner, Amie, who has been my rock throughout the season. In addition to Amie, my sister, Dad, Alice, and Lily have attended most of the events to cheer me on, and it's meant the world to have them by my side, with our family name on the side of the car.

Thank you - So many of you have reached out to me this year with messages of support, and some of you have even attended some of the races. I hope I've put on a good show for you and that you've enjoyed following the series. Your support has meant the world to me.