29/03/2022
Well what a championship that was 1996-1997 BTCC
1st of all massive congrats to my team mate Min on winning not only the drivers championship but helping us ( Vauxhall ) to constructors championship as well.
So on to the race report final race brands hatch, what can I say super strong qualifying from team vauxhall who was 8 points behind volvo going into this final race. Min qualified in 1st and myself in 4th.
Race one after harley was sent to start in the pits ( jump start ) lights go out and we away racing, in up the paddock into t1 ( paddocks Hill bend) I got a great start and was able to climb up to 2nd heading into turn 1 with min upfront after chasing min ( who was bloody quick all season) I just couldn't close the 1 second gap going into the half way point of our 20min race. After 10min I could do nothing more then watch him drive into the sunset securing the drivers championship and putting team vauxhall into a commanding place going into the final round of the championship a lovely 1/2 from vauxhall with Didier chasing all race coming home in 3rd. Poor harley retired from race one due to mechanical damage with sees him start at the back of the grid going into race 2 ( the hunt for 4th continues)
Race 2
Reverse grind,lights out and away we going.l this time no one was going to give up their positions without a fight. Harley gets a blinder and after I tried to close the door on the run up to T1 he makes a brave move round the outside and just gets it done before the narrowing before t1, paddock Hill bend now and we 3 wide with harley just in front little plato tap from me to let him know it's game on now. Down the hill in to druids early braking catch me alittle off guard and a few more platos later and poor harleys pushes wide onto Graham Hill and myself and harley both fighting hard ( but fair) me on the inside and harley outside on the run down to T3 both try and place the car on the same bit of road and unfortunately for harley he comes off worse and ends up being turned round by myself and dissapears off to the right on Graham Hill, this sees harley again having to retire due to mechanical issues.
This leaves me chasing Martin down for 1st. Starting to.close the gap again mid race comes round and the tyres are starting to fade and I just couldn't close the gap even setting the fastest application of the race (at that point) with a 1:31.0331 that was until 4 laps later when ed fighting for 3rd place posts a 1:30.513. As the race nearer the end martin storms to a commanding lead and I just couldn't keep up but I also couldn't coast as I had min bearing down on my like a tonne of bricks. I did however manage to control the gap to just over a second as the Chequered fell on another podium taking my tally to 3 for the championship and another 2nd of the night, closely followed by min making vauxhall the constructors champions. And in 4th ed who was quick throughout the day just had some unlucky track action.
Unfortunately for me I didn't made enough ground on harley to sn**ch 4th place overall. But thats ok there's always next time..
Massive shout out to Rowntree for a fantastic league and everyone that raced with us. Roll on season 2 baby.
