Dan Zelos takes an early championship lead in this season’s debut race

Davanti-sponsored Dan Zelos begins the season strong, looking to defend his JCW title, as he’s now focused on his next race weekend.

On Saturday, Dan Zelos started the first race in third position on the grid. However, he didn’t let this discourage him and worked his way to the front of the pack, ultimately leading to a successful start to the weekend. Despite facing tough competition during the race, with the lead changing hands midway and a dramatic race to the finish line that saw his rival Whoreton-Eales penalised, Dan was awarded first place after a short review, with an eight-second lead over the next-best driver.

Dan Zelos said after the Saturday race –

“The first race weekend is always a little bit of a step into the unknown, and we did far less pre-season testing than usual this year, so to be as quick and comfortable as we were was hugely encouraging,” Zelos reflected.

“We handled everything that was thrown at us – from the changing conditions to a new tyre compound and red flags – and came out on top, and while we didn’t get a win on the road, I definitely felt we were the fastest in both the wet and the dry, which was very encouraging.

“Having done so well in qualifying all the way through last season, we didn’t get it quite right this time, which left us lower down the grid than I felt we should have been and made my job a little bit harder in the races, but I knew we could come through.”

The second race had different conditions with a warmer day and a drying track. This put Dan at a disadvantage with the choice of tyres during the race. Dan retained wet tyres hoping to avoid the time cost of switching to slicks. However, this gave competitor Lewis Selby an opportunity to attack. Although Dan started off strong and led the pack, he was unfortunately pushed back to second place after a tussle with Lewis.

Dan Zelos said after the Sunday race –

“We really didn’t expect the circuit to dry so quickly, but based on the information we had at our disposal at the time, I would make the same decision again. Switching to slicks would have been a big risk. It obviously paid off for Lewis [Selby] on this occasion and a massive well done to him for being brave enough to try it, but it could very easily have backfired and with the championship being our goal, we had no choice but to play it safe.

“I just want to say a big ‘thank you’ to all the supporters who stuck it out trackside along with my partners, friends and family as it certainly wasn’t the easiest of days in those conditions, but we made the most of it and in just a couple of weeks we get to go to one of my favourite circuits, Brands Hatch, where we will try to bring home some more trophies!”

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