15/03/2022
THE BARC motorsport season roared into life on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit last weekend, with the all-new British Endurance Championship the headline act with a three-hour race.
Administered by Britcar and growing out of their hugely successful 2021 Endurance championship, almost 30 cars ranging from GT3-spec supercars to TCR touring cars assembled for the event. There was disaster however for reigning champions Motus One as their McLaren 650S GT3 broke its steering rack in qualifying, depriving Will Powell and Dave Scaramanga of a race start. Pole position went to welcome returnees John Seale and Jamie Stanley, winners at Silverstone in 2021 in a Lamborghini but now back in an FF Corse Ferrari 488 Challenge. There were a few empty slots on the grid after one car suffered last minute gremlins leaving its pit and those caught behind it were unable to make it to the grid in time, but this would lead to a few heroic drives through the field in the early stages.
Lee Frost in the RaceLab Lamborghini Huracan GT3 took advantage of the additional space at the start and carved his way from ninth on the grid to lead by the end of lap one, pursued by Glebs Stepanovs in the beautiful Aston Martin Vulcan and Carl Cavers in the Valluga Ferrari 458 Challenge as Seale fell back. Further back Wayne Marrs had started Rob Boston Racing’s stunning new Mercedes GT3 from the pit lane but was already carving up the order, and he and Tom Jackson would emerge as the main challenger to Frost and partner Lucky Khera in the Lamborghini, along with Erceg and Clutton in the stark white Porsche. The latter took the lead during the first round of pit stops but the Huracan was soon back ahead in Khera’s hands and would dominate proceedings thereon. Jackson and Marrs looked the only genuine challengers for a possible overall success but sadly the Mercedes’ race was ended by alternator problems after two hours, leaving Khera and Frost to win by a full lap ahead of Stepanovs and Stephen Tomkins who enjoyed a consistent and reliable run in the Vulcan. An impressive third overall and first in Class B went to the Lamborghini Super Trofeo car of Claude Bovet and David McDonald which ran like clockwork throughout, while main class rivals Seale and Stanley wore out the brakes on their Ferrari and finished down in 16th.
Third in class 4 was taken by welcome returnees ING Sport with Ian Lawson and Kevin Clarke piloting their BMW Z4 to fourth overall, while Clutton and Erceg were delighted with their new Porsche and won Class C in fifth ahead of the Ferraris of Cavers/Lewis Plato and Chris Goddard/Charlie Hollings. Class D was won on the road by the T7 Motorsport Aston Martin GT4 of Peter Montague and Stuart Hall, but a post-race penalty for speeding in the pit lane dropped them behind the similar car of Team BRIT crewed by Luke Pound and Andy Tucker. Class E for the TCR cars saw the debut of EDF Motorsports’ new Cupra Competicion, and Ashley Woodman and Martin Byford steered it to victory by a clear lap thanks to a combination of pace and pit strategy. Jonathan Beeson had made a rocket start and despite contact with Goddard’s Ferrari in the opening laps ran as high as sixth overall, he and George Heler finishing second in class in Sheard Autosport’s Golf and the Motus One/Maximum pairing of Anton Spires and Stewart Lines third. The McAleer family meanwhile won Class F in their Porsche 997 after their only rival, the Newbarn Racing Jaguar F-Type, dropped out early on.
MacG Racing’s Taranis was one expected front runner to suffer gremlins as did the returning Scott Sport Mosler which sadly blew its engine in Friday testing, while Johnny Mowlem switched from FF Corse to join the Bespoke Defenders Porsche squad but was stymied by head gasket failure just a couple of laps into his stint, the car having also cut out at the start with Dave Benett aboard. An impressive Porsche performance meanwhile came from new Team HARD recruits Olly Turner and Callum Jenkins, who overcame a pit lane start to fly through for tenth and fourth in Class C. Fellow Team HARD newcomers Josh Hislop, Michael MacPherson and Ray Harris meanwhile took their Ginetta G55 to 13th overall and third in Class D.
Britcar also showcased a pair of 50-minute races for their Trophy championship, with a record entry of over 50 cars assembling. Woodrow Motorsport’s 2021 title-winning BMW 1-series was present but not racing, and this left a familiar face on pole position in the shape of Mark Lee in the SVG Motorsport Ginetta G56A. Rob Baker was rapid in the damp qualifying session to put his Area Motorsport VW Golf second, ahead of MacG Racing’s Mazda RX-8 and the Assetto Motorsport Ginetta of Julian Wantling/Jim Edwards. One car that would be missing for race one was the Titan Trans/EDF Clio of Jon Hobbs, who after a major mechanical failure during qualifying surfed eBay, bought an engine and gearbox from (fortunately nearby) Milton Keynes, collected it and fitted it in time for race two!
The track was still slippery for the start of the opening race and Baker almost lost the Golf into Becketts for the first time, Lee leading from pole until a slight mistake at Club Corner allowed the vastly experienced Nigel Greensall (Geoff Steel Racing BMW E36) into the lead. RaceLab were out for this race two with Frost and Khera switching to a BMW and the latter was soon carving up the order following a pit lane start. Further back an early collision delayed Preptech Ltd’s “Endurance” Clio and one of Motus One’s regiment of Renaults, and Team BRIT’s BMW 1-Series of newcomer Paul Fullick also suffered early damage.
Greensall led up to the stops and pitted at the same time as rival Lee, but SVG Motorsport had a secret weapon in the Yorkshireman’s new co-driver Owen Hizzey. The highly rated sports car young gun was soon into the lead following the stops as Greensall’s partner David Gooding fell back, eventually beaching the BMW in the Luffield gravel after a spin. Frost gave chase to Hizzey but the Ginetta won by ten seconds with Jasver Sapra and Bryan Bransom’s BMW third, the RaceLab duo taking Class 1 Invitation honours. Behind came Axel van Nederveen’s Datum Motorsport Ginetta and the similar mount of SVG’s Neil Wallace/Ian Astley, while Sebastian Debois enjoyed his first ever motor race to take sixth in Motus One’s G55A.
After looking on for an overall podium Baker’s Golf sadly expired in a cloud of smoke with ten minutes remaining allowing Kester Cook to take Class 2 honours in “Kester’s Fiesta” with an impressive run to 12th overall having started at the back of the grid. Ryan Parkin took his Darkside Motorsport Audi TT (the ex-Walton family VW Cup car) to Class 2 Invitation honours in seventh, while Chandler Motorsport’s new duo of Rhys Hurd and Harry Yardley-Rose won Class 3 in their Golf in 17th overall. Reigning Junior Saloon Car champion Charlie Hand took the Clio category win in 13th overall, and the debut of the new Ginetta G40 Cup division saw Richard Durham on top in 33rd.
Conditions were drier for the second race but the safety car was out early when Carlito Miracco in the Preptech Clio continued his team’s difficult day, tipping Luke Handley’s Golf – which had briefly led overall during the pit stops in race one – into the Club gravel. Hizzey led the way after the intervention in the Ginetta and pulled away knowing the car had an additional 15 seconds to serve as a success penalty at its stop. Behind him a terrific fight developed between Sapra, Astley, Edwards, van Nederveen and Julian Thomas in the Team BRIT BMW M240i which produced some of the closest action of the weekend. Hizzey built up the 15-second lead needed before the stops, but sadly things would be thrown into confusion as the safety car appeared during the pit window after Peter Dillnot spun his Ginetta G40 to a halt at the Loop. After a few laps of general uncertainty it was Debois who emerged as the leader and he won by almost a full lap to cap a superb debut race weekend, Parkin’s Audi coming out on top in a scrap with Team BRIT newcomer Chris Overend (relayed by VBOX guru Thomas) for second. These three also took class wins in classes 1, 2 Invitation and 2 respectively, while Class 1 Invitation went to Wantling/Edwards with the RaceLab BMW having non-started. TSR took Class 3 with the Golf of Anthony Rodgers/Fynn Jones, while Hand and Durham repeated their earlier Clio and Ginetta successes.
History was also made as the Praga Cup UK held its first ever standalone races, with 13 of the Czech-built 380bhp sports racers present. The RAW Motorsports entry of Rob Wheldon and Ben Stone took pole for the opener, the novel qualifying format using the average of the best lap times for each driver to determine the grid. Invitation class pairing Alex Conner and Tom Canning (both Pro-graded drivers) lined up second for Arden by Idola, with the two Mittell Cars entries of Chippy Wesemael and Scott Mittell next, the Pro drivers taking the first stint in race one. Mittell unfortunately suffered problems prior to the start and spent four laps in the pits ironing out an electrical gremlin, while Wheldon led off ahead of Canning and Wesemael. Ben Collins had started from the back in the works #85 car shared with Jay Morton but rocketed through to second place, although sadly the car would retire just before the pit stops began. Wesemael took Wheldon for the lead but Gordie Mutch driving the famous “Goldie” car was closing fast, and they leapfrogged the Mittell entry in the pit lane as fan favourite Jimmy Broadbent took over while Wesemael’s new partner Dan Gore was left almost ten seconds behind. Reigning champion Alex Kapadia had worked his way into contention in the Tim Gray Motorsport car shared with Richard Wells after a slow start as well, but the safety car would soon be deployed when George Line’s University of Wolverhampton car lost a wheel and spun off at Stowe. Broadbent was especially aggrieved as he had just emerged from a second stop to serve a penalty for a short pit stop first time around, and no sooner had the race restarted with Connor now leading having been relayed by Canning than Wells spun into the gravel at Abbey. This ensured the race would finish under safety car with Conner/Canning the victors and Wheldon/Stone taking Cup honours, the Tim Gray-entered car of Jack Tomalin and Stefano Leaney next home ahead of Mutch and Broadbent.
Race two would see the Am drivers take the first stint and chaos would reign in the early stages as the heavens briefly opened. Charles Hall was starting the car shared with Mittell from the rear of the grid but he soon shot past the rest of the field and cleared off into the lead despite the total lack of grip, several teams electing to stop before the window to switch to wets including Broadbent and Jay Morton in the car shared with Collins. Tomalin meanwhile was an early retirement and the Bridle twins also suffered early gremlins, while Hall was able to relay Mittell a lead of some 43 second after his stop. YouTuber Miles Lacey and Praga newcomer Tommy Foster’s race ended early when their Idola-run car caught fire on the Hangar Straight, while Mittell’s fellow Pro drivers embarked on a spirited chase with Mutch, Wesemael and Kapadia all trading fastest laps but Mittell held on to make up for Saturday’s problems with the win. Wheldon/Stone took second with Gore/Wesemael next and Kapadia/Wells taking the consolation of fastest lap in fourth, while Mutch could only muster a lapped ninth after Broadbent’s tyre delays and the Conner/Canning car retired with gearbox trouble.
The British Superkart Racing Club kicked off their 2022 Super Series with three races, Liam Morley as ever starting as favourite for overall honours and he was well in the Division 1 battle early on at the sharp end of race one along with Matt Robinson, Ross Allen and Lee Harpham. Morley would however suddenly retire at Village on lap four and this left Robinson to pull off some brave overtakes to narrowly defeat British GP champion Harpham for the win. Morley lined up fourth for race two thanks to his lap times from the opener and made amends by defeating Robinson and Allen, while Sunday’s race three saw a damp track and tyre choice critical. Allen lucked out as he gambled on wets and fell back, while Robinson produced another spirited drive to head home Morley and fire a warning shot to his Division 1 rivals for 2022, Andy Gulliford taking third as Harpham also fell away.
In the other classes, Paul Platt was the star of the 250 Mono division as after a retirement on the opening lap of race one he started 50th and last for the second race, proceeding to gain over 30 places on the first lap alone en route to ninth overall and a class win. Lee Plain had won the class in race one after a late retirement for James Hassall and the Devonshire driver chased after Platt in the third race, but the two tangled into Brooklands and Plain went spinning as Platt caught a slide over the kerbs and went on to win. Nick Flint meanwhile inherited the 450 National win in race one after Kosta Kyritsis was excluded, Flint making it a double in race two before Ronan McClintock took race three. In the 125 Open class wins were shared between Tom Baldwin and Clinton Bridge, the latter taking a double.
The Snetterton Saloons made a welcome visit to Silverstone for an away day, and Rhys Lloyd made up for his British Endurance disappointment as he dominated the race from pole in his Opel Astra TCR, leading every lap except a brief moment during the pit stop window and lapping everyone except runner up Kevin Bird’s BMW M3 GT4. Edward Leigh’s similar BMW recovered from a disappointing qualifying to come through for a lapped third. Fourth-placed Liam Crilly gained time at the stops in his BMW Z4 and won Class B, while Peugeot expert Carl Chambers won Class C in eighth. Mark Periam’s Mk2 Golf GTi profited when the Hornigold family suffered a stop-go penalty in their MG ZR to take Class D and Peter Kaylor’s SEAT Leon Cupra took the Invitation class after son Bradley’s similar car went up in smoke, as did Arthur McMahon’s Honda Civic which left an oil slick all over Abbey but thankfully there were no casualties as a result. The BMWs of the Z Cars series also raced concurrently, the Z4s able to mix it with the Saloons in the overall reckoning due to being exempt from the mandatory pit stops. Former Britcar champion Chris Murphy came out on top in ninth overall, Callum Bates beating Matt Dance for second after a good fight in the closing stages.
