The Grid

In the inaugural year of contesting their BMW E36 GTR run by Butler Motorsport - Tony Brown and Ian White (both twice Porsche Champions in the UK) not only won their class in the Dutch Supercar Championship but have secured more points than any other competitor in all four classes to take the Dutch Supercar Challenge title overall!

The final round of the Championship was at Assen in Holland at the weekend, where in the 2 one hour races Tony and Ian only needed to finish the first race to get a points lead enough to win their class overall.

Tony secured pole position and Ian started the first race, dropping to 4th to keep out of trouble but quickly reeling in the leaders to pit at half time 3rd in class. After the pit stop Tony took over and they dropped back to 4th in class but as the race unfolded he climbed to 2nd overall.

With the Supersport II division Class win already in the bag, the duo looked to see where they were in the overall title and in order to secure a lead where the other contenders couldn't catch them they had to finish 3rd in class in the final race. This was a tall order as due to their previous success, they now faced a pit stop 30 seconds longer than any other competitor in their class!

Tony took the start on the 2nd hour long race and led into the first corner but dropped back to 4th to keep out of trouble and go for the title. By half time Tony had got back up to 3rd in class and after Ian took over with only one place lost at the pit stop, Ian took back 3rd position. As problems hampered the class leaders the duo were able to steal 2nd on the last lap and secure the title good and proper!

Throughout the year the consistently quick duo have had to race on many European circuits they have never visited before, yet they always qualified in the top 3 and maintained consistent podium finishes in the highly competitive series. The Supersport II division itself has had 8 different winners, mainly due to the pit stop penalty seconds given to previous winners and it therefore gets more and more difficult to maintain results. The Dutch Supercar Challenge Championship was contested across Europe by no less than 86 International Teams, supporting 169 drivers in 140 cars from 20 different manufacturers and goes to prove what a fantastic achievement this was.

Tony & Ian would like to thank Clayton Holdings for their support and Butler Motorsport for their immaculate car preparation. The Championship winning BMW GTR is now For Sale and ready to win in 2008!

The final outing for the Adrian Flux sponsored BMW M3 was last weekend at Spa Francorchamps, Paul White was unable to

make it, happy to leave Sarah Bennett-Baggs to do the 2 x 1hr races in the highly competitive Dutch Enduro series.

The 4 classes of Dutch Supercar raced together on an extra large 54 car grid at Spa instead of the usual separate races. With the previous engine up to hours Butler Motorsport installed a new 3.0 l engine prior to the race to allow entry into class 4.

With 11 in class, Sarah qualified 5^th in class and 43^rd overall. In the first race Sarah ran a trouble free race, getting up to P3 in class prior to the pitstop, and going back out in P6 after the pitstop, she crept back up to finish in P5 after 1 hrs running without incident or penalty finishing 30^th overall.

For Sunday’s race 2, things went a little differently, starting 30^th overall with at least 20 cars from faster classes starting behind on the grid, causes for an exciting first lap! With cars coming through cleanly each corner at almost all of the 4.2mile alpine circuit, it didn’t take long before an impatient Seat from the class above clipped the inside rear wheel of Sarah’s BMW in an impatient bid of freedom to get past just as she was turning into the first part of Blanchimont, the tap sent the car into an irretrievable spin, which on impact to the tyre wall sent the car rebounding onto its roof from the force of the impact.

As a result the safety car was deployed, whilst the car was recovered and Sarah was taken to the medical unit checked over and given the all clear. She was returned to the pits in time for her partner Tony Brown to see she was safe and sound before doing his stint in the same race and going on to win their class. Tony and his race partner Ian White in their Butler Motorsport run BMW GTR are now leading the Championship with 2 rounds left at Assen.

Sarah was to guest drive in the Adrian Flux car in the last round of the Dutch Supercar to run up against series organiser - Dick Van Elk’s daughter in her BMW M3 in the same class. This unfortunately is now not going to be possible.

Sarah Bennett-Baggs and BMW owner Paul White entered the Silverstone rounds of the Dutch Supercar SuperSports II series at Silverstone GP circuit when it was supporting the 24hr last weekend.

The pairing qualified 11th overall, 10th out of 17 in class in this 25 strong field. Sarah's partner Tony Brown was racing in the pole sitting BMW with his race partner Ian White - the pairing are currently leading the Championship.

During the 1st race, Paul and Sarah finished a credible 8th in class and 9th overall in this highly competitive series, ahead of the Brown/White pairing who had to stop due to electrical problems but managed to finish the race after leading for most of it. For the 2nd race Paul and Sarah finished 9th overall, the Brown/White car having started 16th came 2nd overall . First position went to the BMW of Don Grice who started 3rd. A great weekend for Butler motorsport who run all three BMW cars, great teamwork to run 3 cars in a 2 driver, pit stop race, and to get a 1, 2 finish.

Sarah Bennett-Baggs and guest driver Andre D'Cruz also contested the Adrian Flux M3 BMW in an invitational round of the Production S1. The 40min race was combined with the Britsports race on a separate grid which continued directly after the 2nd Dutch Supercar Race. Sarah stayed in the car from doing the 2nd half of the Dutch race, to grid up for the Production S1. She said 'It was great to start a race already pumped up from the previous laps, I drove out of the deserted collecting area, gridded up and off we went almost without stopping, the first few corners were great fun, when everyone else had cold tyres we had loads of grip! The pair qualified 3rd overall, and at the pitstop Sarah handed over the car still in 3rd position, but a slight delay on the stop dropped the duo to 4th position, where they finished overall.

A great weekends racing to finish off the year, thanks to Adrian Flux for their support throughout the year and to Butler Motorsport for an extremely reliable car, and great service!

Sarah would also like to thank Paul White for letting me use and abuse his car and to Tony my partner for taking it so well when I beat him at Silverstone and for all his coaching and support throughout the year.

Sarah Bennett-Baggs and BMW owner Paul White contested the Adrian Flux M3 BMW at the final round of the BRITCAR CHAMPIONSHIP on Saturday at Brands Hatch this week the pair had a flawless race with no unscheduled stops. They qualified 14th overall, 3rd in class and after an awesome start by Paul who flew through the field they led the class for most of the race, until Championship leaders Leith & Bell retook the lead leaving White and Bennett-Baggs to finish 2nd in class and 10th overall.

Saturday was hot and dry for the 2hr endurance race, Paul set the fastest time in qualifying which put them 14th on the grid overall and 3rd in class.

Paul took the start and flew straight up into class leading position from the first corner and held the position for most of the race, a safety car incident came into play just 50mins into the race and it was decided to do the driver change. Sarah went out to catch up the safety car train maintaining the class lead. But Class1 championship leaders Leith and Bell were securing their championship win (they had to complete 80% of the race to win) when this was in the bag they upped the pressure and started pushing, our comfortable class lead was being diminished lap by lap and Sarah couldn't hold off the charging 'stingray' BMW for very long. After 2 hrs the pairing came home 10th overall and 2nd in class.

A great result nonetheless to finish just behind the Championship leaders, in the last Britcar round for 2007.

Paul and Sarah entered the Adrian Flux BMW into the closely fought class 1 category of Production S1 Championship on the Sunday at Brands Hatch.

Sundays qualifying was dry and Paul set the qualifying time of 51.8 to put the BMW into 5th position on the grid and in class.

Sarah started the 50 min 2 driver sprint race, but the start was chaos as the cars lined up for the grid the heavens opened and the race was declared wet race - Butler Motorsport took the opportunity to select the intermediate tyre which is a cut slicks as opposed to wet tyres as the rain looked like a passing shower.

As the cars relined up on their wets and took off there was a fair amount of standing water and cars sliding around, Sarah dropped back from the front pack field struggling for grip in the early laps until the surface water cleared and the intermediate tyres came into their own. As the race progressed the car just kept getting quicker, whilst others were struggling for grip on their overheating wet tyres.

Sarah handed over to Paul after just 20mins, having lost just one place on the start to 6th overall, Paul managed to regain this position and was catching the front running cars for a podium finish, but the race was cut short due to the false start and downpour so we were unable to keep pushing. Paul and Sarah had to settle for finishing 5th overall.

Sarah said 'Although we didn't get a result, the race was very valuable experience starting a race on intermediate tyres in very wet conditions, it was difficult to know how hard to push and a bit dodgy in places where there was standing water, but as the water cleared the grip just kept coming, it was a good call but we just didn't have the time to make up the places'

Sarah Bennett-Baggs (left) and BMW owner Paul White contested the Adrian Flux M3 BMW in the Donington round of the BRITCAR CHAMPIONSHIP on Saturday in a strong field of 36 competitors, 9 in class. Despite some unscheduled stops and trouble at the beginning of the race the duo finished a credible 14th overall and 6th in class in the 2hr Endurance race.

The weather conditions for Saturday were clear, sunny and dry for a change, Paul set the fastest time in qualifying which put them 19th on the grid overall and 3rd in class.

Paul took the start but the troubles started only the 3rd lap into the race, when Paul made contact with a BMW Z3 resulting in damaged bodywork and flat tyre an unscheduled pit stop was made while hasty repairs were carried out before sending Paul on his way. This put us right to the back of the pack - 36th overall (at this point all chances of a podium were out of the window).

1 hr into the race Paul handed the car over to Sarah having climbed up into 22nd overall and 7th in class. As soon as Sarah took over there was a call for a stop and go penalty which was due to Paul overtaking under yellow flags accidentally. Sarah came in to take the penalty but got called in moments later for another one due to speeding in the pit lane.

Finally the last 40 minutes were problem free and it was just left to Sarah to bring the car home and stay out of trouble, the final result we got up into 14th place overall and 6th in class.

ENDURANCE RACING TRIO GET CLASS POSITION IN ADRIAN FLUX M3 BMW.

Sarah Bennett-Baggs, Tony Brown & Don Grice fought tough class opposition in the 4hr Britcar Night Race at Spa Francorchamps in the ADRIAN FLUX sponsored M3 BMW but finished a credible 12th overall and 3rd in class.

Sarah was joined by experienced BMW racers Tony Brown and Don Grice for the 4hr Endurance night race at Spa last weekend, the trio qualified 5th in class, some 3 secs behind the more powerful cars in their class putting them 32nd on the grid out of 50 starters.

The weather conditions for the race started dry and Sarah took the start, keeping the car out of trouble in the first few manic laps pitting 1hr 20mins into the race having moved up 10 places to 22nd overall and 4th in class. Don Grice took over in still dry conditions and after a quick driver change and fuel stop he drove for just over an hour at which point the weather changed and it started to tip down, it was decided to swap drivers and change to a wet set-up for the final 1 hr 30 mins, at this stage we were up into 17th position overall and 3rd in class which dropped back to 4th after the long tyre changing pit stop. Tony had the hardest drive since the rain came with a vengeance then eased off with still 1 hrs running to go, and he had to keep the tyres working for the last hour on a drying track.

At the race finish all three drivers had achieved a faultless performance no spins or contact, finishing a credible 12th overall and 3rd in their class. Huge credit must go to Butler Motorsport for their excellent team support and preparation.

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