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 Handkammer and Leslie triumph in Britcar opener.

Harry Handkammer and David Leslie overcame both the opposition and some seriously mixed up weather to win yesterday's (Saturday) Britcar Championship race at a very cold Silverstone.

The race, which began in heavy snow,which fortunately melted as soon as it hit the ground,  had  looked like being a fight between the Kevin Riley/Ian Flux Mosler and Richard Chamberlain and John Allen's Porsche 935 but  that was before the weather intervened.  Riley and Flux led from the lights but within a lap they were back in 32nd after a spin and Dennis Leach in a TVR Sagaris was in front. He was only there for one lap before John Gaw and Phil Dryburgh's Porsche 997 took over the lead, which they held for just three laps before it changed hands once again. 

This time, as the weather worsened, it was the Ferrari F430 of Almo Cappelli and Bierre Flipsagir which went to the front before a period behind the safety car calmed down the proceedings and waited for the snow to ease. Once it stopped (again it never settled),teh Ssun came out and the Ferrari stayed in the  lead until it's pit stop on lap 22. This handed the top sport to John Dhillon and Nim Kandi Nia's similar F430. They had a brief scrape with Mark Clynes and Nick Beaumont's Peugeot 307,  both cars leading a lap a-piece until the Peugeot made it stick on lap 27.

The Puegeot pair stayed out front until lap 33 when the Handkammer and Leslie BMW M3 E36 gained the front. There it would remain for the remainder of the race, with the exception of laps 40-41 when they made their mandatory driver change, allowing the Beighton/Finnemore Marcos Mantis to briefly flirt with the notion of a podium place, (they sadly retired from 4th place on lap 51). However by lap 42 the BMW was back in the lead ahead of the aforementioned Mantis which was replaced in second by the Gaw/Drybourgh Porsche on lap 49. They in turn were relegated a place on lap 53 by the Riley and Flux Mosler.

That's how they stayed for the remaining lap, Hammerkammer and Leslie winning from the fast recovering Mosler of Flux and Riley with 15 seconds to spare. Gaw and Drybourgh  held on as the last of the un-lapped runners in third with Rod Barrett and Jan Person fourth in a Porsche 996. 

The Porsche 935 of Chamberlain and Allen dropped back right from the start, pitting on only the third lap They then started to climb back through the field, getting as high as eighth on lap 26 before a spin at Luffield on lap 32 saw then bog down in the gravel trap, forcing them into retirement..

words and pics R Pascal 11/56 Motorsport