thegrid club motor racing news race reports classified information etc

Backers for Caterham Motorsport’s UK and European race series include Autosport, Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Caged, Cheesman Products, Comma, Cosworth, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News and Stack.

Guy Harrington and Ted Murray(pictured above NOT cutting the kerbs!) fought tooth and nail all weekend (14/15 Oct) at the Pau-Arnos circuit in south-western France to decide which of them would be runner-up to Ben de Zille Butler in the Autosport Caterham Eurocup.

Harrington beat Murray to victory in Saturday’s race, with Ted turning the tables on Guy yesterday to score a notable final-round win. It was not quite enough, however, for Murray to snatch championship second from Harrington’s grasp.

Harrington led all the way from pole position to chequered flag in Saturday’s penultimate round to notch up his second win of the Eurocup season for the Harrington Motorsport/Team Parker squad.

The 19-year-old Derbyshire driver put in a copybook performance from the outset, his Superlight building a one-second lead by the fifth lap and romping home to win by 10.6 seconds from his TPR running mate Murray. “We’ve done a lot of work on the car in recent weeks to get the set-up just right,” said Guy. “It’s just a shame that it’s come good for us at the end of the year, because if we’d done it earlier we could have been challenging for the championship win rather than runner-up.”

Murray came under strong pressure on the opening lap from Charles Bateman and then repulsed a mid-race attack from Mike Cantillon to secure a richly deserved sixth podium finish of the year. Cantillon’s great drive was halted by a holed radiator, a legacy of his close pursuit of Murray, which handed third back to Bateman with 11 laps to run. Charles completed a Team Parker 1-2-3 which helped net TPR the Eurocup teams prize for the second successive season.

There was an enjoyable four-way fight to the flag for fourth between the Hyperion Motorsport drivers, Andrew Beaumont winning the battle to equal his best result of the year and Bill Addison seizing fifth from Daniel Mitchell’s grasp seven laps from home. Terry Clark finished just behind Mitchell for seventh.

On Sunday Harrington

(below at the start of rac e 2) got away cleanly from the pole once again, but this time Murray was able to stay in close contact. Never more than a second or two behind his rival, Ted waited until mid-distance to show his hand – a quicker line through the 180-degree first/second turn which an old circuit hand had discussed with him overnight.

“It was a lot quicker,” said Ted, “and that allowed me to close up on to Guy’s tail and to really have a go at him.” Murray made the decisive move of the race – indeed, of the weekend – on the 15th lap, moving alongside Harrington on the exit to turn two and running side by side with him all the way to the entry to the Parabolique, where he nosed in front.

From then on it was simply a question of hanging on in front. Easier said than done when your front suspension is shaking itself to pieces: “There was a terrible vibration for most of the race,” said Ted, “but it was not until I finished that I discovered that half the front right assembly was hanging loose.”

Despite the problems Murray crossed the line 0.25s clear of Harrington. TPR boss Andy Parker said: “I’m not at all sure how Ted’s car even finished the race, let alone won it.” It was Murray’s third race victory of the season to bring him level with de Zille Butler’s win tally.

Harrington could not be too disappointed with second, and second in the championship: “It’s been a great year and really nice to have ended it so competitively at such a magnificent circuit.”

Cantillon endured a relatively lonely race to take third, his third podium of the year, with Beaumont fourth once again after fighting his way past Addison and then Mitchell. Bill came back from a spin at the hairpin to take sixth ahead of Clark. Bateman was the unluckiest in the race: his clutch blew on the way to the grid and he managed but a single lap of the race.

Provisional results
Round 10 Pau-Arnos FRA 14 October
21 laps/39.54 miles
1     Guy Harrington    Superlight 31m 49.646s
2     Ted Murray Superlight +10.654s
3     Charles Bateman   Superlight +27.854s
4     Andrew Beaumont   Superlight +46.137s
5     Bill Addison      Superlight +47.025s
6     Daniel Mitchell   Superlight +47.320s
Fastest lap: Murray 1m 25.583s est rec

Round 11 Pau-Arnos FRA 15 October
21 laps/39.54 miles
1     Ted Murray Superlight 30m 36.273s
2     Guy Harrington    Superlight +0.256s
3     Mike Cantillon    Superlight +24.435s
4     Andrew Beaumont   Superlight +35.162s
5     Daniel Mitchell   Superlight +35.428s
6     Bill Addison      Superlight +58.076s
Fastest lap: Harrington 1m 26.361s

Provisional final championship standings
1 Ben de Zille Butler 165 points
2 Harrington 154
3 Murray 148
4 Cantillon 144
5 Beaumont 120
6 Bateman 112 etc.

Teams
1 Team Parker Racing 390
2 Hyperion Motorsport 322 etc

Ben de Zille Butler was crowned Autosport Caterham Eurocup champion yesterday (Sat) at Monza, a brace of top-four placings enough to secure the title for the 29-year-old Suffolk racer well before the end of what is only his second full season of racing.

de Zille Butler was on strong form for what were not only his maiden outings at the Italian Grand Prix circuit but also the Eurocup’s first Monza foray, but he could not match the pace of newly crowned Australian Formula 3 Champion Ben Clucas, who won both races by a handsome margin.

Clucas’s double win came hot on the heels of his Silverstone UK Superlight victory and helped the Hyperion Motorsport squad maintain its teams championship battle with Team Parker Racing, which will now go down to the wire at Pau in France in a fortnight.

Clucas dominated the opener, sprinting into an early lead from pole position ahead of de Zille Butler, Ted Murray and Mike Cantillon. As his pursuers squabbled over second spot, Clucas extended his lead every lap to win by 7.3s. “It was all pretty straightforward,” said Ben, “even though I was driving a different car to that which I raced at Silverstone. It just goes to show that Caterham Superlights are evenly matched machines.”

Murray held second for several laps but fell foul of a yellow flag flown by marshals following a gravel trap off at the Parabolica for Terry Clark. Race stewards deemed Murray had overtaken under the caution, handed him a stop-and-go penalty and then black-flagged the Mancunian when he failed to pit, dealing Ted’s title hopes a fatal blow.

Guy Harrington battled past Cantillon and Murray and then duelled with de Zille Butler all the way to a virtual neck-and-neck finish for second at the chequered flag. The timekeepers could separate them only by one-thousandth of a second, with de Zille Butler judged the vital inch or two ahead when it mattered.

Andrew Beaumont collected fourth, his best result of the season, ahead of Cantillon, who lost the leaders’ tow after a slight error. Daniel Mitchell took sixth, Jamie Constable seventh with a sick gearbox and Phillipe Evrard eighth in his R400 to take an uncontested Invitation class victory.

Joining Clark in retirement were Peter Ratcliff, who went off at the chicane and suffered steering failure, Bill Addison, whose engine blew, and Charles Bateman, who was halted by electrical problems on the opening lap.

Clucas started race two from the pole also but found himself immediately under attack from some determined rivals. He fought back to end the first lap in second behind Harrington, and then de Zille Butler leapfrogged both to snatch the lead on lap two. Clucas was not, however, to be denied his second victory of the day. He powered into the lead on lap three and pulled away to another decisive win, this time by 9.6s.

A fantastic five-car slipstreaming battle turned the fight for second place into a real Monza lottery. de Zille Butler, Cantillon, Murray, Harrington and Ratcliff were in pitch battle for the whole race and crossed the line separated by two-tenths. After consultation of video footage, stewards awarded Cantillon second from Harrington, de Zille Butler, Murray and Ratcliff.

Ironically, de Zille Butler’s championship-clinching fourth was his first finish off the Eurocup podium all season, but Ben was far from disappointed: “It’s awesome to have won the championship, and it hasn’t even really begun to sink in yet. I’ve been studying the points positions and permutations for so long but it’s still hard to believe nobody can now beat me. Whatever, I shall be back at Pau hopefully to end the season with another race win.” de Zille Butler has claimed three victories already, at Donington Park, Estoril and Spa.

Mitchell kept in touch with the frontrunners throughout and was two seconds behind at the line for seventh, with Bateman, his car blighted by a lack of straight-line speed, eighth ahead of Beaumont, Clark, Constable and Evrard de Zille (left , Harrington (right)and Clucas(centre) celebrate on the podium

Provisional results
Round 8 Monza 30 September
11 laps/38.97 miles
1, Ben Clucas, Superlight, 23m 25.847s, 101.39mph
2, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +7.362s
3, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +7.363s
4, Andrew Beaumont, Superlight, +12.052s
5, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +21.076s
6, Daniel Mitchell, Superlight, +32.929s
Invitation class winner: Phillipe Evrard, R400 / 8th overall +1m 11.150s
Fastest lap: de Zille Butler 2m 05.966s / 102.88mph Est Rec

Round 9 Monza 30 September
11 laps/38.97 miles
1, Ben Clucas, Superlight, 23m 29.525s, 101.13 mph
2, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +9.662s
3, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +9.697s
4, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +9.701s
5, Ted Murray, Superlight, +9.813s
6, Peter Ratcliff, Superlight, +9.885s
Invitation class winner: Phillipe Evrard, R400 / 12th overall +46.811s
Fastest lap: Murray 2m 06.451s / 102.48mph

Provisional championship standings
1 Ben de Zille Butler 165 points; 2 Ted Murray 141; =3 Guy Harrington & Mike Cantillon 128; 5 Charles Bateman 96; 6 Jamie Constable 91 etc.
Teams: 1 Team Parker Racing 314; 2 Hyperion Motorsport 260 etc

Backers for Caterham Motorsport’s UK and European race series include Autosport, Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Caged, Cheesman Products, Comma, Cosworth, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News and Stack.

Final rounds: Pau-Arnos, France, 14/15 October.

A win apiece for Ben de Zille Butler and Ted Murray at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium yesterday (Sat) ensured that their battle for overall Autosport Caterham Eurocup honours will continue to the Italian and French rounds in the autumn.

de Zille Butler triumphed over his Team Parker Racing rival Murray by half a second in a frantically paced opening race, with Ted turning the tables in race two to maintain his second position overall in the points standings.

It was Mike Cantillon who set the pace in qualifying, the TPR driver more than a match for the teeming wet conditions. Cantillon lapped half a second quicker than de Zille Butler, with Rachel Green lining up third on the grid ahead of Charles Bateman, Nick Payne, reigning champion Jamie Constable, Murray and Guy Harrington, who made a miraculous comeback from a testing crash at Eau Rouge which left his Superlight badly damaged and his ankle in some pain.

Cantillon led race one away through Eau Rouge but undid all his good work with a spin at the Bus Stop which left him languishing 10th and Green (pictured right) in charge by the end of the opening lap. Rachel was hotly pursued by Bateman, de Zille Butler, Constable, Payne, Peter Ratcliff and Harrington, and it was these seven – plus Cantillon, who staged an amazing comeback – who battled for victory for most of the race, never separated by more than a couple of seconds in what was a fantastically exciting duel.

After de Zille Butler and Constable had taken their turns in front Cantillon made it back to the top once more, only to leave his braking too late at Rivage in the seventh lap and end his brilliant race in the gravel. Lap seven also saw the retirement of Cantillon’s TPR running mate Constable, who broke his cooling fan, blowing a vital fuse, after the lightest of contact with another car.

With two laps to go it was a three-way victory battle, with a surprised de Zille Butler edging ahead of Murray for his third win of the year and Green collecting her best Eurocup result of the season with third. “To be totally honest I had no idea it was the final lap,” said Ben. “I was expecting another lap or two! It was a fantastically close race – we weren’t changing places every lap, it was every corner.” Green agreed: “It was completely frantic from beginning to end, but really clean and great fun.”

Less than 3.5 seconds covered the top five, with Bateman beating his old school mate Harrington to fourth and Ratcliff taking sixth despite a full 360 spin at the Bus Stop on the last lap.

Payne was seventh, struggling against a wet set up, and Andrew Beaumont eighth ahead of Bill Addison and the R400 of Invitation Class victor Phillipe Evrard. Roger Norris won the Roadsport class from Robin Russell after Steve Hindle’s engine expired and Geoff Wakem was the R300 Class winner.

de Zille Butler and Murray romped away from their pursuers – just as they did at Estoril a fortnight previously – to settle the outcome of race two. Ted whittled away Ben’s early advantage to overhaul him for the lead at Blanchimont on the seventh lap. de Zille Butler repassed and was once more demoted, and in the end it came down to who was going to be the most committed through the Bus Stop and La Source on the ninth and final lap.

Said Ted: “I played a conservative game early on, staying in touch with Ben and waiting for my moment. Then I got past him and it was a question of holding the inside line at the Bus Stop and hoping for the best.” Murray was just 0.037s in front at the line.

Constable made up for his first-race disappointment with third place after overhauling both Cantillon and Harrington on the final lap, with Mike taking fourth and Guy fifth, despite out-of-alignment steering following an early collision.

Green’s hopes of another podium were lost on the penultimate lap when she was squeezed on to the grass at Eau Rouge and spun at 100mph, narrowly avoiding a major impact but destroying her tyres.

Payne scored his best result of the season with sixth, ahead of Bateman, Beaumont and Terry Clark, with Evrard once again 10th overall and the Invitation Class victor. Norris survived a spin to take the Roadsport class once more but was unable to catch R300 Class victor Wakem for 15th overall after his rotation.

Provisional results
Round 6 Spa 5 August
9 laps/39.0 miles
1, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, 25m 17.612s, 92.4mph
2, Ted Murray, Superlight, +0.576s
3, Rachel Green, Superlight, +1.413s
4, Charles Bateman, Superlight, +2.854s
5, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +3.453s
6, Peter Ratcliff, Superlight, +8.439s
Class winners: Invitation Phillipe Evrard; R300 Geoff Wakem; Roadsport Roger Norris.
Fastest lap: de Zille Butler 2m 46.534s / 93.6mph (est rec)

Round 7 Spa 5 August
9 laps/39.0 miles
1, Ted Murray, Superlight, 24m 59.090s, 93.6mph
2, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +0.037s
3, Jamie Constable, Superlight, +16.148s
4, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +16.377s
5, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +16.492s
6, Nick Payne, Superlight, +17.020s
Class winners: Invitation Phillipe Evrard; R300 Geoff Wakem; Roadsport Roger Norris.
Fastest lap: Murray 2m 45.043s / 94.4mph (rec)

Provisional championship standings
Superlight 1 de Zille Butler 131 points; 2 Murray 126; 3 Cantillon 95; 4 Harrington 94; 5 Bateman 83; 6 Bill Addison 74 etc
Roadsport 1 Norris 66; 2 Robin Russell 52; 3 Andrew Blight 40 etc
R300 1 Wakem 48; 2 Thoralf Grube 40 etc
Invitation 1 Evrard 48; 2 Peter Frith 39; 3 Robert Lyons 25 etc

Backers for Caterham Motorsport’s UK and European race series include Autosport, Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Caged, Cheesman Products, Comma, Cosworth, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News and Stack.

The Autosport Caterham Eurocup’s first-ever foray to the Portuguese Grand Prix circuit of Estoril provided not only some thrilling racing yesterday (Sun) but also the makings of what promises to be a tense championship battle, with points leader Ben de Zille Butler winning one of the races and his closest title challenger Ted Murray the other. It was Team Parker Racing driver Murray’s first-ever win and brings him to within five points of de Zille Butler.

de Zille Butler’s first-race victory was sealed on the opening lap when Ben – who had been on the pole by a comfortable six-tenth margin from Mike Cantillon – romped into the lead and then narrowly avoided collision with an out-of-control David Knox, who went off at the Parabolica. The accident delayed Cantillon and the other front-runners and by lap’s end de Zille Butler was two seconds ahead. That was as close to him as anyone would get.

“I was very lucky,” conceded Ben, “not only because David shot right across in front of me but also because the others were held up.”

The battle for second place was thus the feature fight, with Cantillon, Guy Harrington, Murray, Jamie Constable and Simon Constable in the thick of it.

Nineteen-year-old Harrington had the upper hand for several laps until he was penalised with a pit lane drive-through for overtaking under a yellow warning flag. That left Cantillon without a tow and it was not long before he was swallowed up by Constable and Crompton, who duelled to the flag for the runner-up spot.

Crompton gained the advantage for the Hyperion team on the main straight at the start of the final lap, and Constable’s hopes of repassing on the back straight were frustrated when they happened upon a back marker. Jamie had to settle for third.

de Zille Butler crossed the line five seconds ahead of Crompton, with Murray following his Team Parker running mate Constable home for fourth. Cantillon was fifth after surviving a hefty shove from Murray’s car.

Ian Thompson and Peter Ratcliff battled for sixth for much of the race, Thompson moving ahead of his rival three laps from the end.

Charles Bateman was a disappointed eighth, suffering from locking brakes, with the penalised Harrington ninth, less than 30 seconds behind the victor and rueing the time lost through his misdemeanour. Bill Addison claimed 10th ahead of Steve Frost, Danny Mitchell, the R400 of Invitation Class victor Phillipe Evrard and the R300 class winner Geoff Wakem.

Murray gave notice of his pace by setting fastest lap, and underlined it by making a storming start to race two. de Zille Butler was the top man once more, however, clearing off from the pole to lead Murray by a second at the end of the opening lap.

It looked as though Ben might manage an Estoril double, but the patient Murray started to chip away at his lead from around one-third distance, reducing it to half a second by the seventh tour. Within two further laps Mancunian Murray was right on his rival’s tail and looking for a way past.

He found his route to top spot a lap later on the back straight and, despite Ben’s best efforts, held on to take his maiden race win by a margin of just five-hundredths of a second. Said Ted: “Ben made no mistakes and nor did I; it was a hard fight. My plan was to bide my time and pick up his tow late in the race. I noticed he was not as quick as me exiting the chicane, so that’s where I made my move.”

There was a superb battle behind also, with Harrington clawing his way up from ninth on the grid to deprive Crompton of third. Constable’s hopes of another podium had meanwhile been dashed by spin through a gravel trap.

Cantillon took fifth, Bateman sixth, and Mitchell seventh ahead of Addison, Evrard, the recovered Constable, Tim Bertin, Wakem and Ratcliff, who pitted with a puncture. Among the retirements was Knox, whose miserable luck persisted when he lost fourth place with a sheared-off rear wheel.

Provisional results
Round 4 Estoril 23 July
14 laps/36.4 miles
1, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, 27m 5.720s / 80.5mph
2, Simon Crompton, Superlight, +5.125s
3, Jamie Constable, Superlight, +5.586s
4, Ted Murray, Superlight, +6.076s
5, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +6.864s
6, Ian Thompson, Superlight, +19.230s
Class winners: Invitation Phillipe Evrard; R300 Geoffrey Wakem.
Fastest lap: Murray / 1m 53.962s, 82.1mph est rec

Round 5 Estoril 23 July
14 laps/36.4 miles
1, Ted Murray, Superlight, 27m 6.717s / 80.5mph
2, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +0.057s
3, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +6.207s
4, Simon Crompton, Superlight, +11.339s
5, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +11.398s
6, Charles Bateman, Superlight, +28.504s
Class winners: Invitation Phillipe Evrard; R300 Geoffrey Wakem.
Fastest lap: David Knox / 1m 54.387s, 81.8mph

Provisional championship standings Superlight 1 de Zille Butler 93 points; 2 Murray 88; 3 Cantillon 78; =4 Harrington & Crompton 64; 6 Bateman 54 etc.

Backers for Caterham Motorsport’s UK and European race series include Autosport, Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Caged, Cheesman Products, Comma, Cosworth, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News and Stack.

Ben de Zille Butler claimed the overall lead of the Autosport Caterham Eurocup this weekend (17/18 June) at Donington Park, winning Saturday's race in style to notch up his maiden victory at the wheel of the new Cosworth-powered Superlight.

de Zille Butler was beaten back to third in today's encounter, with 19-year-old Derbyshire driver Guy Harrington emerging on top to take his first Superlight win. Ted Murray was the runner-up on both occasions to move into second in the series standings, just three points adrift.

de Zille Butler's progress on Saturday to his first race victory of the season was as serene as it was impressive, the 29-year-old from Suffolk taking an early lead from the front row of the grid after overhauling pole man Harrington and then beating off a challenge from Mike Cantillon to establish a one-second lead.

Cantillon soon found his mirrors full of the sister Team Parker Racing Superlight of Murray; Ben spotted the opportunity to make good his escape while Mike was busy and lowered the lap record twice as he flew to a 9.2-second victory.

"The car was great," said de Zille Butler.(below) "We had a good set-up from our visit here last month with the UK championship and everything came together. It was a bit lonely out there at the front towards the end…"

Mancunian Murray nailed Cantillon on the 10th of the 20 laps and held on in second for the duration to score his best-ever Eurocup result. Cantillon nearly fell into Harrington's clutches towards the end when he missed a gear exiting the chicane, but Guy was having problems of his own with a severe rear wheel imbalance which manifested itself on the opening lap.

Cantillon thus held on to third, with Hyperion's Simon Crompton making a late-race charge not only to seize fourth from Harrington but also to smash de Zille Butler's recently set lap record. Nineteen-year-old Charles Bateman made it four cars in the top six for Team Parker.

Rachel Green got the better of a race-long tussle with Andrew Beaumont to take seventh, with Peter Ratcliff ninth ahead of Nick Payne, Bill Addison, Daniel Mitchell and a subdued round one victor David Knox, whose car was suffering from a broken wishbone mounting. Reigning champion Jamie Constable finished 21st and last after a lengthy visit to a gravel trap.

The victor in the four-way battle for honours in the Roadsport division was once again Roger Norris, whose Hyperion-prepared car led throughout. Andrew Blight took second ahead of Robin Russell. Series newcomer Dominic Wallington failed to finish.

Devonian Stuart Dixon won the Invitation Class in his R400, Kevin Williams unable to take the fight to him due to a gearbox problem. Eurocup debutant Peter Frith took third.

The pace was even hotter in Sunday's encounter with a five-way victory battle for much of the race and just eight-tenths of a second separating the top three at flag fall. Murray, de Zille Butler, Cantillon, Harrington and Ratcliff were all in contention for the win in the early stages of what was the most competitive Eurocup battle of the season to date.

First to fall from the leading pack was Ratcliff, who was then overhauled for fifth by an on-form Rachel Green (below) and then demoted to seventh by Crompton. Five laps from the end Crompton and Ratcliff tangled, Simon's car riding up over Peter's rear wheel, and both were eliminated.

Cantillon was the next to lose ground, missing a gear and losing the tow from the de Zille Butler/Harrington/Murray train. Mike had to settle for fourth as Ben, Ted and Guy staged the final dash for the flag, with Harrington just managing to pull a few yards ahead while threading through the backmarkers on the penultimate lap.

With a level-headedness rarely seen in a 19-year-old, Harrington withstood the pressure and did not put a wheel wrong over the course of the final two miles, crossing the line six-tenths ahead of Murray and with de Zille Butler right behind them both. "That was the best race I have ever had," said Guy. "I won here at my home track twice last year but they were not nearly such satisfying wins. It was so close all the way, and so clean."

Green once again found herself sparring with Beaumont, keeping ahead of him to take fifth. Bateman, who spun when he got caught up in the Crompton/Ratcliff accident, recovered to seventh, with Addison taking eighth ahead of Mitchell and Terry Clark. Constable's race was arrested once again by the Old Hall gravel trap, and this time he was unable to regain the track, joining Nick Payne (gearbox) and Knox (more suspension trouble) in retirement.

Williams found his gearbox behaving better in race two but was still unable to prevent another Invitation Class victory for Dixon. Norris claimed his fourth successive Roadsport class victory with Russell this time second.

Provisional results
Round 2 Donington Park 17 June
20 laps/39.15 miles
1, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, 25m 57.123s, 90.43 mph
2, Ted Murray, Superlight, +9.299s
3, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +12.503s
4, Simon Crompton, Superlight, +13.053s
5, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +14.297s
6, Charles Bateman, Superlight, +14.515s
Class winners: Invitation Stuart Dixon; Roadsport Roger Norris
Fastest lap: Crompton 1m 17.218s / 91.25 mph record

Round 3 Donington Park 18 June
20 laps/39.15 miles
1, Guy Harrington, Superlight, 25m 55.492s, 90.52 mph
2, Ted Murray, Superlight, +0.557s
3, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +0.807s
4, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +7.147s
5, Rachel Green, Superlight, +20.591s
6, Andrew Beaumont, Superlight, +21.377s
Class winners: Invitation Stuart Dixon; Roadsport Roger Norris
Fastest lap: de Zille Butler 1m 16.669s / 91.90mph record

Provisional championship standings
Superlight
1 de Zille Butler 55 points
2 Murray 52
3 Cantillon 48
4 Beaumont 37
5 Harrington 36
6 Bill Addison 31 etc

Roadsport
1 Norris 50
=2 Andrew Blight & Robin Russell 40
4 Dominic Wallington 12

Invitation
1 Dixon 20
2 Kevin Williams 16
3 Peter Frith 14 etc

The new Cosworth-powered Caterham Superlight claimed its maiden race victories this weekend (21/22 Apr) in Germany, with David Knox (pictured above) taking twin wins in his Colards Motorsport-prepared machine.

They were not only the Superlight’s first victories but also broke Knox’s Eurocup victory duck after four seasons of seconds and thirds. “You wait years for a win and then two come along at once,” said A delighted David, who assumes a slender series lead.

There were class wins at Hockenheim for R300 driver Thoralf Grube, for Roger Norris in the Roadsport class, and for R400 racers Steve Frost and Phillipe Evrard, who shared the spoils in the Invitation class.

Friday’s not-for-points series ‘prologue’ was a promising start for the Superlight, with a six-car battle for victory for much of the race and few teething problems for the cars in what was their first competitive outing, although the unseasonably high ambient temperatures did create overheating worries for some.

Simon Crompton’s pole-sitting Hyperion Motorsport machine led the way early on, hotly pursued by Eurocup debutant Ted Murray for Team Parker Racing, Knox, Mike Cantillon and Ben de Zille Butler. Reigning champion Jamie Constable lasted only three laps before he holed his radiator and was sidelined.

Cantillon came a cropper after 10 laps, also with a damaged radiator, while Crompton came into the pits to retire with overheating. This left Knox out in front but facing renewed pressure over the final three laps from de Zille Butler and from 19-year-old Guy Harrington, the reigning Roadsport Challenge champion.

It all went wrong for Ben on the final lap: “I was alongside David for the lead when we came up behind some backmarkers. One didn’t get out of my way in time and I rode up over his back wheel. I drove along for what seemed like forever looking up at the sky until thankfully my car dropped off and I was able to get going again.”

This mishap gave Knox the chance to pull away and win from Harrington by two-tenths, with de Zille Butler recovering to third. The race’s other 19-year-old, Charles Bateman, was another making a superb debut, finishing fourth for TPR ahead of Peter Ratcliff, Ian Thompson, Andrew Beaumont, Bill Addison, Terry Clark and Evrard, whose Invitation class victory came after Frost’s sixth lap spin into the gravel at Südkurve.

The R300 class win went Grube’s way after reigning German champion Kurt Hoffmann broke a wheel, while Norris took top honours in his Roadsport after a race-long three-way scrap with Andrew Blight and Robin Russell.

Saturday’s race was another barnstormer – six cars duelling for victory for two-thirds of the race, until Knox was able to make a slight break. Crompton was once again the early pacesetter from the pole, with de Zille Butler vying with him for top spot until the seventh tour, when Knox found a way past and into a lead he would not lose.

Crompton’s victory hopes took a knock when Cantillon clipped him and then spun, which left Knox fending off Constable, Murray and de Zille Butler in the closing stages. Luck played into his hands three laps from the end when they came up on backmarkers; David was able to pass them neatly and make a slight break. “I was fortunate to get that break,” said Knox. “I knew that if I could just get in front and do that then I would have the pace to win. The car has been perfect all weekend.”

De Zille Butler was 2.5s behind for second, with Constable third ahead of the Superlights of Murray, Cantillon, Ratcliff, Crompton, Thompson, Beaumont and Addison. Harrington and Bateman tangled on the opening lap after Guy was tapped from behind. Frost took 11th spot and the Invitation class honours, with Norris and Grube once again the victors in their respective classes.

Provisional results
Race 1 Hockenheim, Germany 21 April
13 laps/36.9 miles
1, David Knox, Superlight, 25m 35.541s, 86.6 mph
2, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +0.226s
3, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +2.260s
4, Charles Bateman, Superlight, +19.143s
5, Peter Ratcliff, Superlight, +22.549s
6, Ian Thompson, Superlight, +34.978s
Class winners: Inv Phillipe Evrard; R300 Thoralf Grube; Roadsport Roger Norris
Fastest lap: de Zille Butler 1m 56.270s 88.0mph est rec

Race 2 Hockenheim, Germany 22 April
13 laps/36.9 miles
1, Knox, 25m 29.412s, 87.0 mph
2, de Zille Butler, +2.473s
3, Jamie Constable, Superlight, +3.282s
4, Ted Murray, Superlight, +3.793s
5, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +4.043s
6, Ratcliff, +9.624s
Class winners: Inv Steve Frost; R300 Grube; Roadsport Norris
Fastest lap: Cantillon 1m 55.304s 88.7mph rec

Provisional championship standings
Superlight 1 Knox 20; 2 de Zille Butler 18; 3 Constable 17; 4 Murray 16 etc.
Roadsport 1 Norris 20; 2= Andrew Blight & Robin Russell 15.
R300 1 Grube 40; 2 Wolfgang Becker 35 etc.
Invitation 1 Evrard 10; 2 Frost 7.

pic: Chris Schotanus - Imagevaults

_{theGrid.co.uk}
The national & club motor racing magazine on the Net -Established 1998
Home	^News	^Features	^Calendar	What's On	11/56 MotorSport
	^Reports	^Gallery	^Links	^Contact
E mail the editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk for details *Autosport Caterham Eurocup* Backers for Caterham Motorsport’s UK and European race series include Autosport, Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Caged, Cheesman Products, Comma, Cosworth, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News and Stack. GUY & TED TAKE FRENCH EUROCUP HONOURS Guy Harrington and Ted Murray(pictured above NOT cutting the kerbs!) fought tooth and nail all weekend (14/15 Oct) at the Pau-Arnos circuit in south-western France to decide which of them would be runner-up to Ben de Zille Butler in the Autosport Caterham Eurocup. Harrington beat Murray to victory in Saturday’s race, with Ted turning the tables on Guy yesterday to score a notable final-round win. It was not quite enough, however, for Murray to snatch championship second from Harrington’s grasp. Harrington led all the way from pole position to chequered flag in Saturday’s penultimate round to notch up his second win of the Eurocup season for the Harrington Motorsport/Team Parker squad. The 19-year-old Derbyshire driver put in a copybook performance from the outset, his Superlight building a one-second lead by the fifth lap and romping home to win by 10.6 seconds from his TPR running mate Murray. “We’ve done a lot of work on the car in recent weeks to get the set-up just right,” said Guy. “It’s just a shame that it’s come good for us at the end of the year, because if we’d done it earlier we could have been challenging for the championship win rather than runner-up.” Murray came under strong pressure on the opening lap from Charles Bateman and then repulsed a mid-race attack from Mike Cantillon to secure a richly deserved sixth podium finish of the year. Cantillon’s great drive was halted by a holed radiator, a legacy of his close pursuit of Murray, which handed third back to Bateman with 11 laps to run. Charles completed a Team Parker 1-2-3 which helped net TPR the Eurocup teams prize for the second successive season. There was an enjoyable four-way fight to the flag for fourth between the Hyperion Motorsport drivers, Andrew Beaumont winning the battle to equal his best result of the year and Bill Addison seizing fifth from Daniel Mitchell’s grasp seven laps from home. Terry Clark finished just behind Mitchell for seventh. On Sunday Harrington(below at the start of rac e 2) got away cleanly from the pole once again, but this time Murray was able to stay in close contact. Never more than a second or two behind his rival, Ted waited until mid-distance to show his hand – a quicker line through the 180-degree first/second turn which an old circuit hand had discussed with him overnight. “It was a lot quicker,” said Ted, “and that allowed me to close up on to Guy’s tail and to really have a go at him.” Murray made the decisive move of the race – indeed, of the weekend – on the 15th lap, moving alongside Harrington on the exit to turn two and running side by side with him all the way to the entry to the Parabolique, where he nosed in front. From then on it was simply a question of hanging on in front. Easier said than done when your front suspension is shaking itself to pieces: “There was a terrible vibration for most of the race,” said Ted, “but it was not until I finished that I discovered that half the front right assembly was hanging loose.” Despite the problems Murray crossed the line 0.25s clear of Harrington. TPR boss Andy Parker said: “I’m not at all sure how Ted’s car even finished the race, let alone won it.” It was Murray’s third race victory of the season to bring him level with de Zille Butler’s win tally. Harrington could not be too disappointed with second, and second in the championship: “It’s been a great year and really nice to have ended it so competitively at such a magnificent circuit.” Cantillon endured a relatively lonely race to take third, his third podium of the year, with Beaumont fourth once again after fighting his way past Addison and then Mitchell. Bill came back from a spin at the hairpin to take sixth ahead of Clark. Bateman was the unluckiest in the race: his clutch blew on the way to the grid and he managed but a single lap of the race. Provisional results Round 10 Pau-Arnos FRA 14 October 21 laps/39.54 miles 1 Guy Harrington Superlight 31m 49.646s 2 Ted Murray Superlight +10.654s 3 Charles Bateman Superlight +27.854s 4 Andrew Beaumont Superlight +46.137s 5 Bill Addison Superlight +47.025s 6 Daniel Mitchell Superlight +47.320s Fastest lap: Murray 1m 25.583s est rec Round 11 Pau-Arnos FRA 15 October 21 laps/39.54 miles 1 Ted Murray Superlight 30m 36.273s 2 Guy Harrington Superlight +0.256s 3 Mike Cantillon Superlight +24.435s 4 Andrew Beaumont Superlight +35.162s 5 Daniel Mitchell Superlight +35.428s 6 Bill Addison Superlight +58.076s Fastest lap: Harrington 1m 26.361s Provisional final championship standings 1 Ben de Zille Butler 165 points 2 Harrington 154 3 Murray 148 4 Cantillon 144 5 Beaumont 120 6 Bateman 112 etc. Teams 1 Team Parker Racing 390 2 Hyperion Motorsport 322 etc DE ZILLE BUTLER TAKES TITLE, CLUCAS THE MONZA RACE WINS Ben Clucas Ben de Zille Butler was crowned Autosport Caterham Eurocup champion yesterday (Sat) at Monza, a brace of top-four placings enough to secure the title for the 29-year-old Suffolk racer well before the end of what is only his second full season of racing. de Zille Butler was on strong form for what were not only his maiden outings at the Italian Grand Prix circuit but also the Eurocup’s first Monza foray, but he could not match the pace of newly crowned Australian Formula 3 Champion Ben Clucas, who won both races by a handsome margin. Clucas’s double win came hot on the heels of his Silverstone UK Superlight victory and helped the Hyperion Motorsport squad maintain its teams championship battle with Team Parker Racing, which will now go down to the wire at Pau in France in a fortnight. Clucas dominated the opener, sprinting into an early lead from pole position ahead of de Zille Butler, Ted Murray and Mike Cantillon. As his pursuers squabbled over second spot, Clucas extended his lead every lap to win by 7.3s. “It was all pretty straightforward,” said Ben, “even though I was driving a different car to that which I raced at Silverstone. It just goes to show that Caterham Superlights are evenly matched machines.” Murray held second for several laps but fell foul of a yellow flag flown by marshals following a gravel trap off at the Parabolica for Terry Clark. Race stewards deemed Murray had overtaken under the caution, handed him a stop-and-go penalty and then black-flagged the Mancunian when he failed to pit, dealing Ted’s title hopes a fatal blow. Guy Harrington battled past Cantillon and Murray and then duelled with de Zille Butler all the way to a virtual neck-and-neck finish for second at the chequered flag. The timekeepers could separate them only by one-thousandth of a second, with de Zille Butler judged the vital inch or two ahead when it mattered. Andrew Beaumont collected fourth, his best result of the season, ahead of Cantillon, who lost the leaders’ tow after a slight error. Daniel Mitchell took sixth, Jamie Constable seventh with a sick gearbox and Phillipe Evrard eighth in his R400 to take an uncontested Invitation class victory. Joining Clark in retirement were Peter Ratcliff, who went off at the chicane and suffered steering failure, Bill Addison, whose engine blew, and Charles Bateman, who was halted by electrical problems on the opening lap. Clucas started race two from the pole also but found himself immediately under attack from some determined rivals. He fought back to end the first lap in second behind Harrington, and then de Zille Butler leapfrogged both to snatch the lead on lap two. Clucas was not, however, to be denied his second victory of the day. He powered into the lead on lap three and pulled away to another decisive win, this time by 9.6s. A fantastic five-car slipstreaming battle turned the fight for second place into a real Monza lottery. de Zille Butler, Cantillon, Murray, Harrington and Ratcliff were in pitch battle for the whole race and crossed the line separated by two-tenths. After consultation of video footage, stewards awarded Cantillon second from Harrington, de Zille Butler, Murray and Ratcliff. Ironically, de Zille Butler’s championship-clinching fourth was his first finish off the Eurocup podium all season, but Ben was far from disappointed: “It’s awesome to have won the championship, and it hasn’t even really begun to sink in yet. I’ve been studying the points positions and permutations for so long but it’s still hard to believe nobody can now beat me. Whatever, I shall be back at Pau hopefully to end the season with another race win.” de Zille Butler has claimed three victories already, at Donington Park, Estoril and Spa. Mitchell kept in touch with the frontrunners throughout and was two seconds behind at the line for seventh, with Bateman, his car blighted by a lack of straight-line speed, eighth ahead of Beaumont, Clark, Constable and Evrard de Zille (left , Harrington (right)and Clucas(centre) celebrate on the podium Provisional results Round 8 Monza 30 September 11 laps/38.97 miles 1, Ben Clucas, Superlight, 23m 25.847s, 101.39mph 2, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +7.362s 3, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +7.363s 4, Andrew Beaumont, Superlight, +12.052s 5, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +21.076s 6, Daniel Mitchell, Superlight, +32.929s Invitation class winner: Phillipe Evrard, R400 / 8th overall +1m 11.150s Fastest lap: de Zille Butler 2m 05.966s / 102.88mph Est Rec Round 9 Monza 30 September 11 laps/38.97 miles 1, Ben Clucas, Superlight, 23m 29.525s, 101.13 mph 2, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +9.662s 3, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +9.697s 4, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +9.701s 5, Ted Murray, Superlight, +9.813s 6, Peter Ratcliff, Superlight, +9.885s Invitation class winner: Phillipe Evrard, R400 / 12th overall +46.811s Fastest lap: Murray 2m 06.451s / 102.48mph Provisional championship standings 1 Ben de Zille Butler 165 points; 2 Ted Murray 141; =3 Guy Harrington & Mike Cantillon 128; 5 Charles Bateman 96; 6 Jamie Constable 91 etc. Teams: 1 Team Parker Racing 314; 2 Hyperion Motorsport 260 etc Backers for Caterham Motorsport’s UK and European race series include Autosport, Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Caged, Cheesman Products, Comma, Cosworth, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News and Stack. Final rounds: Pau-Arnos, France, 14/15 October. MORE EUROCUP WINS FOR DE ZILLE BUTLER & MURRAY A win apiece for Ben de Zille Butler and Ted Murray at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium yesterday (Sat) ensured that their battle for overall Autosport Caterham Eurocup honours will continue to the Italian and French rounds in the autumn. de Zille Butler triumphed over his Team Parker Racing rival Murray by half a second in a frantically paced opening race, with Ted turning the tables in race two to maintain his second position overall in the points standings. It was Mike Cantillon who set the pace in qualifying, the TPR driver more than a match for the teeming wet conditions. Cantillon lapped half a second quicker than de Zille Butler, with Rachel Green lining up third on the grid ahead of Charles Bateman, Nick Payne, reigning champion Jamie Constable, Murray and Guy Harrington, who made a miraculous comeback from a testing crash at Eau Rouge which left his Superlight badly damaged and his ankle in some pain. Cantillon led race one away through Eau Rouge but undid all his good work with a spin at the Bus Stop which left him languishing 10th and Green (pictured right) in charge by the end of the opening lap. Rachel was hotly pursued by Bateman, de Zille Butler, Constable, Payne, Peter Ratcliff and Harrington, and it was these seven – plus Cantillon, who staged an amazing comeback – who battled for victory for most of the race, never separated by more than a couple of seconds in what was a fantastically exciting duel. After de Zille Butler and Constable had taken their turns in front Cantillon made it back to the top once more, only to leave his braking too late at Rivage in the seventh lap and end his brilliant race in the gravel. Lap seven also saw the retirement of Cantillon’s TPR running mate Constable, who broke his cooling fan, blowing a vital fuse, after the lightest of contact with another car. With two laps to go it was a three-way victory battle, with a surprised de Zille Butler edging ahead of Murray for his third win of the year and Green collecting her best Eurocup result of the season with third. “To be totally honest I had no idea it was the final lap,” said Ben. “I was expecting another lap or two! It was a fantastically close race – we weren’t changing places every lap, it was every corner.” Green agreed: “It was completely frantic from beginning to end, but really clean and great fun.” Less than 3.5 seconds covered the top five, with Bateman beating his old school mate Harrington to fourth and Ratcliff taking sixth despite a full 360 spin at the Bus Stop on the last lap. Payne was seventh, struggling against a wet set up, and Andrew Beaumont eighth ahead of Bill Addison and the R400 of Invitation Class victor Phillipe Evrard. Roger Norris won the Roadsport class from Robin Russell after Steve Hindle’s engine expired and Geoff Wakem was the R300 Class winner. de Zille Butler and Murray romped away from their pursuers – just as they did at Estoril a fortnight previously – to settle the outcome of race two. Ted whittled away Ben’s early advantage to overhaul him for the lead at Blanchimont on the seventh lap. de Zille Butler repassed and was once more demoted, and in the end it came down to who was going to be the most committed through the Bus Stop and La Source on the ninth and final lap. Said Ted: “I played a conservative game early on, staying in touch with Ben and waiting for my moment. Then I got past him and it was a question of holding the inside line at the Bus Stop and hoping for the best.” Murray was just 0.037s in front at the line. Constable made up for his first-race disappointment with third place after overhauling both Cantillon and Harrington on the final lap, with Mike taking fourth and Guy fifth, despite out-of-alignment steering following an early collision. Green’s hopes of another podium were lost on the penultimate lap when she was squeezed on to the grass at Eau Rouge and spun at 100mph, narrowly avoiding a major impact but destroying her tyres. Payne scored his best result of the season with sixth, ahead of Bateman, Beaumont and Terry Clark, with Evrard once again 10th overall and the Invitation Class victor. Norris survived a spin to take the Roadsport class once more but was unable to catch R300 Class victor Wakem for 15th overall after his rotation. Provisional results Round 6 Spa 5 August 9 laps/39.0 miles 1, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, 25m 17.612s, 92.4mph 2, Ted Murray, Superlight, +0.576s 3, Rachel Green, Superlight, +1.413s 4, Charles Bateman, Superlight, +2.854s 5, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +3.453s 6, Peter Ratcliff, Superlight, +8.439s Class winners: Invitation Phillipe Evrard; R300 Geoff Wakem; Roadsport Roger Norris. Fastest lap: de Zille Butler 2m 46.534s / 93.6mph (est rec) Round 7 Spa 5 August 9 laps/39.0 miles 1, Ted Murray, Superlight, 24m 59.090s, 93.6mph 2, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +0.037s 3, Jamie Constable, Superlight, +16.148s 4, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +16.377s 5, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +16.492s 6, Nick Payne, Superlight, +17.020s Class winners: Invitation Phillipe Evrard; R300 Geoff Wakem; Roadsport Roger Norris. Fastest lap: Murray 2m 45.043s / 94.4mph (rec) Provisional championship standings Superlight 1 de Zille Butler 131 points; 2 Murray 126; 3 Cantillon 95; 4 Harrington 94; 5 Bateman 83; 6 Bill Addison 74 etc Roadsport 1 Norris 66; 2 Robin Russell 52; 3 Andrew Blight 40 etc R300 1 Wakem 48; 2 Thoralf Grube 40 etc Invitation 1 Evrard 48; 2 Peter Frith 39; 3 Robert Lyons 25 etc Backers for Caterham Motorsport’s UK and European race series include Autosport, Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Caged, Cheesman Products, Comma, Cosworth, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News and Stack. DE ZILLE BUTLER & MURRAY TAKE THE ESTORIL HONOURS The Autosport Caterham Eurocup’s first-ever foray to the Portuguese Grand Prix circuit of Estoril provided not only some thrilling racing yesterday (Sun) but also the makings of what promises to be a tense championship battle, with points leader Ben de Zille Butler winning one of the races and his closest title challenger Ted Murray the other. It was Team Parker Racing driver Murray’s first-ever win and brings him to within five points of de Zille Butler. de Zille Butler’s first-race victory was sealed on the opening lap when Ben – who had been on the pole by a comfortable six-tenth margin from Mike Cantillon – romped into the lead and then narrowly avoided collision with an out-of-control David Knox, who went off at the Parabolica. The accident delayed Cantillon and the other front-runners and by lap’s end de Zille Butler was two seconds ahead. That was as close to him as anyone would get. “I was very lucky,” conceded Ben, “not only because David shot right across in front of me but also because the others were held up.” The battle for second place was thus the feature fight, with Cantillon, Guy Harrington, Murray, Jamie Constable and Simon Constable in the thick of it. Nineteen-year-old Harrington had the upper hand for several laps until he was penalised with a pit lane drive-through for overtaking under a yellow warning flag. That left Cantillon without a tow and it was not long before he was swallowed up by Constable and Crompton, who duelled to the flag for the runner-up spot. Crompton gained the advantage for the Hyperion team on the main straight at the start of the final lap, and Constable’s hopes of repassing on the back straight were frustrated when they happened upon a back marker. Jamie had to settle for third. de Zille Butler crossed the line five seconds ahead of Crompton, with Murray following his Team Parker running mate Constable home for fourth. Cantillon was fifth after surviving a hefty shove from Murray’s car. Ian Thompson and Peter Ratcliff battled for sixth for much of the race, Thompson moving ahead of his rival three laps from the end. Charles Bateman was a disappointed eighth, suffering from locking brakes, with the penalised Harrington ninth, less than 30 seconds behind the victor and rueing the time lost through his misdemeanour. Bill Addison claimed 10th ahead of Steve Frost, Danny Mitchell, the R400 of Invitation Class victor Phillipe Evrard and the R300 class winner Geoff Wakem. Murray gave notice of his pace by setting fastest lap, and underlined it by making a storming start to race two. de Zille Butler was the top man once more, however, clearing off from the pole to lead Murray by a second at the end of the opening lap. It looked as though Ben might manage an Estoril double, but the patient Murray started to chip away at his lead from around one-third distance, reducing it to half a second by the seventh tour. Within two further laps Mancunian Murray was right on his rival’s tail and looking for a way past. He found his route to top spot a lap later on the back straight and, despite Ben’s best efforts, held on to take his maiden race win by a margin of just five-hundredths of a second. Said Ted: “Ben made no mistakes and nor did I; it was a hard fight. My plan was to bide my time and pick up his tow late in the race. I noticed he was not as quick as me exiting the chicane, so that’s where I made my move.” There was a superb battle behind also, with Harrington clawing his way up from ninth on the grid to deprive Crompton of third. Constable’s hopes of another podium had meanwhile been dashed by spin through a gravel trap. Cantillon took fifth, Bateman sixth, and Mitchell seventh ahead of Addison, Evrard, the recovered Constable, Tim Bertin, Wakem and Ratcliff, who pitted with a puncture. Among the retirements was Knox, whose miserable luck persisted when he lost fourth place with a sheared-off rear wheel. Provisional results Round 4 Estoril 23 July 14 laps/36.4 miles 1, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, 27m 5.720s / 80.5mph 2, Simon Crompton, Superlight, +5.125s 3, Jamie Constable, Superlight, +5.586s 4, Ted Murray, Superlight, +6.076s 5, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +6.864s 6, Ian Thompson, Superlight, +19.230s Class winners: Invitation Phillipe Evrard; R300 Geoffrey Wakem. Fastest lap: Murray / 1m 53.962s, 82.1mph est rec Round 5 Estoril 23 July 14 laps/36.4 miles 1, Ted Murray, Superlight, 27m 6.717s / 80.5mph 2, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +0.057s 3, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +6.207s 4, Simon Crompton, Superlight, +11.339s 5, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +11.398s 6, Charles Bateman, Superlight, +28.504s Class winners: Invitation Phillipe Evrard; R300 Geoffrey Wakem. Fastest lap: David Knox / 1m 54.387s, 81.8mph Provisional championship standings Superlight 1 de Zille Butler 93 points; 2 Murray 88; 3 Cantillon 78; =4 Harrington & Crompton 64; 6 Bateman 54 etc. Backers for Caterham Motorsport’s UK and European race series include Autosport, Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Caged, Cheesman Products, Comma, Cosworth, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News and Stack. DONINGTON VICTORIES FOR DE ZILLE BUTLER & HARRINGTON Harrington in action Ben de Zille Butler claimed the overall lead of the Autosport Caterham Eurocup this weekend (17/18 June) at Donington Park, winning Saturday's race in style to notch up his maiden victory at the wheel of the new Cosworth-powered Superlight. de Zille Butler was beaten back to third in today's encounter, with 19-year-old Derbyshire driver Guy Harrington emerging on top to take his first Superlight win. Ted Murray was the runner-up on both occasions to move into second in the series standings, just three points adrift. de Zille Butler's progress on Saturday to his first race victory of the season was as serene as it was impressive, the 29-year-old from Suffolk taking an early lead from the front row of the grid after overhauling pole man Harrington and then beating off a challenge from Mike Cantillon to establish a one-second lead. Cantillon soon found his mirrors full of the sister Team Parker Racing Superlight of Murray; Ben spotted the opportunity to make good his escape while Mike was busy and lowered the lap record twice as he flew to a 9.2-second victory. "The car was great," said de Zille Butler.(below) "We had a good set-up from our visit here last month with the UK championship and everything came together. It was a bit lonely out there at the front towards the end…" Mancunian Murray nailed Cantillon on the 10th of the 20 laps and held on in second for the duration to score his best-ever Eurocup result. Cantillon nearly fell into Harrington's clutches towards the end when he missed a gear exiting the chicane, but Guy was having problems of his own with a severe rear wheel imbalance which manifested itself on the opening lap. Cantillon thus held on to third, with Hyperion's Simon Crompton making a late-race charge not only to seize fourth from Harrington but also to smash de Zille Butler's recently set lap record. Nineteen-year-old Charles Bateman made it four cars in the top six for Team Parker. Rachel Green got the better of a race-long tussle with Andrew Beaumont to take seventh, with Peter Ratcliff ninth ahead of Nick Payne, Bill Addison, Daniel Mitchell and a subdued round one victor David Knox, whose car was suffering from a broken wishbone mounting. Reigning champion Jamie Constable finished 21st and last after a lengthy visit to a gravel trap. The victor in the four-way battle for honours in the Roadsport division was once again Roger Norris, whose Hyperion-prepared car led throughout. Andrew Blight took second ahead of Robin Russell. Series newcomer Dominic Wallington failed to finish. Devonian Stuart Dixon won the Invitation Class in his R400, Kevin Williams unable to take the fight to him due to a gearbox problem. Eurocup debutant Peter Frith took third. The pace was even hotter in Sunday's encounter with a five-way victory battle for much of the race and just eight-tenths of a second separating the top three at flag fall. Murray, de Zille Butler, Cantillon, Harrington and Ratcliff were all in contention for the win in the early stages of what was the most competitive Eurocup battle of the season to date. First to fall from the leading pack was Ratcliff, who was then overhauled for fifth by an on-form Rachel Green (below) and then demoted to seventh by Crompton. Five laps from the end Crompton and Ratcliff tangled, Simon's car riding up over Peter's rear wheel, and both were eliminated. Cantillon was the next to lose ground, missing a gear and losing the tow from the de Zille Butler/Harrington/Murray train. Mike had to settle for fourth as Ben, Ted and Guy staged the final dash for the flag, with Harrington just managing to pull a few yards ahead while threading through the backmarkers on the penultimate lap. With a level-headedness rarely seen in a 19-year-old, Harrington withstood the pressure and did not put a wheel wrong over the course of the final two miles, crossing the line six-tenths ahead of Murray and with de Zille Butler right behind them both. "That was the best race I have ever had," said Guy. "I won here at my home track twice last year but they were not nearly such satisfying wins. It was so close all the way, and so clean." Green once again found herself sparring with Beaumont, keeping ahead of him to take fifth. Bateman, who spun when he got caught up in the Crompton/Ratcliff accident, recovered to seventh, with Addison taking eighth ahead of Mitchell and Terry Clark. Constable's race was arrested once again by the Old Hall gravel trap, and this time he was unable to regain the track, joining Nick Payne (gearbox) and Knox (more suspension trouble) in retirement. Williams found his gearbox behaving better in race two but was still unable to prevent another Invitation Class victory for Dixon. Norris claimed his fourth successive Roadsport class victory with Russell this time second. Provisional results Round 2 Donington Park 17 June 20 laps/39.15 miles 1, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, 25m 57.123s, 90.43 mph 2, Ted Murray, Superlight, +9.299s 3, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +12.503s 4, Simon Crompton, Superlight, +13.053s 5, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +14.297s 6, Charles Bateman, Superlight, +14.515s Class winners: Invitation Stuart Dixon; Roadsport Roger Norris Fastest lap: Crompton 1m 17.218s / 91.25 mph record Round 3 Donington Park 18 June 20 laps/39.15 miles 1, Guy Harrington, Superlight, 25m 55.492s, 90.52 mph 2, Ted Murray, Superlight, +0.557s 3, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +0.807s 4, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +7.147s 5, Rachel Green, Superlight, +20.591s 6, Andrew Beaumont, Superlight, +21.377s Class winners: Invitation Stuart Dixon; Roadsport Roger Norris Fastest lap: de Zille Butler 1m 16.669s / 91.90mph record Provisional championship standings Superlight 1 de Zille Butler 55 points 2 Murray 52 3 Cantillon 48 4 Beaumont 37 5 Harrington 36 6 Bill Addison 31 etc Roadsport 1 Norris 50 =2 Andrew Blight & Robin Russell 40 4 Dominic Wallington 12 Invitation 1 Dixon 20 2 Kevin Williams 16 3 Peter Frith 14 etc *OPPORTUNITY KNOX FOR DAVID IN GERMANY* The new Cosworth-powered Caterham Superlight claimed its maiden race victories this weekend (21/22 Apr) in Germany, with David Knox (pictured above) taking twin wins in his Colards Motorsport-prepared machine. They were not only the Superlight’s first victories but also broke Knox’s Eurocup victory duck after four seasons of seconds and thirds. “You wait years for a win and then two come along at once,” said A delighted David, who assumes a slender series lead. There were class wins at Hockenheim for R300 driver Thoralf Grube, for Roger Norris in the Roadsport class, and for R400 racers Steve Frost and Phillipe Evrard, who shared the spoils in the Invitation class. Friday’s not-for-points series ‘prologue’ was a promising start for the Superlight, with a six-car battle for victory for much of the race and few teething problems for the cars in what was their first competitive outing, although the unseasonably high ambient temperatures did create overheating worries for some. Simon Crompton’s pole-sitting Hyperion Motorsport machine led the way early on, hotly pursued by Eurocup debutant Ted Murray for Team Parker Racing, Knox, Mike Cantillon and Ben de Zille Butler. Reigning champion Jamie Constable lasted only three laps before he holed his radiator and was sidelined. Cantillon came a cropper after 10 laps, also with a damaged radiator, while Crompton came into the pits to retire with overheating. This left Knox out in front but facing renewed pressure over the final three laps from de Zille Butler and from 19-year-old Guy Harrington, the reigning Roadsport Challenge champion. It all went wrong for Ben on the final lap: “I was alongside David for the lead when we came up behind some backmarkers. One didn’t get out of my way in time and I rode up over his back wheel. I drove along for what seemed like forever looking up at the sky until thankfully my car dropped off and I was able to get going again.” This mishap gave Knox the chance to pull away and win from Harrington by two-tenths, with de Zille Butler recovering to third. The race’s other 19-year-old, Charles Bateman, was another making a superb debut, finishing fourth for TPR ahead of Peter Ratcliff, Ian Thompson, Andrew Beaumont, Bill Addison, Terry Clark and Evrard, whose Invitation class victory came after Frost’s sixth lap spin into the gravel at Südkurve. The R300 class win went Grube’s way after reigning German champion Kurt Hoffmann broke a wheel, while Norris took top honours in his Roadsport after a race-long three-way scrap with Andrew Blight and Robin Russell. Saturday’s race was another barnstormer – six cars duelling for victory for two-thirds of the race, until Knox was able to make a slight break. Crompton was once again the early pacesetter from the pole, with de Zille Butler vying with him for top spot until the seventh tour, when Knox found a way past and into a lead he would not lose. Crompton’s victory hopes took a knock when Cantillon clipped him and then spun, which left Knox fending off Constable, Murray and de Zille Butler in the closing stages. Luck played into his hands three laps from the end when they came up on backmarkers; David was able to pass them neatly and make a slight break. “I was fortunate to get that break,” said Knox. “I knew that if I could just get in front and do that then I would have the pace to win. The car has been perfect all weekend.” De Zille Butler was 2.5s behind for second, with Constable third ahead of the Superlights of Murray, Cantillon, Ratcliff, Crompton, Thompson, Beaumont and Addison. Harrington and Bateman tangled on the opening lap after Guy was tapped from behind. Frost took 11th spot and the Invitation class honours, with Norris and Grube once again the victors in their respective classes. Provisional results Race 1 Hockenheim, Germany 21 April 13 laps/36.9 miles 1, David Knox, Superlight, 25m 35.541s, 86.6 mph 2, Guy Harrington, Superlight, +0.226s 3, Ben de Zille Butler, Superlight, +2.260s 4, Charles Bateman, Superlight, +19.143s 5, Peter Ratcliff, Superlight, +22.549s 6, Ian Thompson, Superlight, +34.978s Class winners: Inv Phillipe Evrard; R300 Thoralf Grube; Roadsport Roger Norris Fastest lap: de Zille Butler 1m 56.270s 88.0mph est rec Race 2 Hockenheim, Germany 22 April 13 laps/36.9 miles 1, Knox, 25m 29.412s, 87.0 mph 2, de Zille Butler, +2.473s 3, Jamie Constable, Superlight, +3.282s 4, Ted Murray, Superlight, +3.793s 5, Mike Cantillon, Superlight, +4.043s 6, Ratcliff, +9.624s Class winners: Inv Steve Frost; R300 Grube; Roadsport Norris Fastest lap: Cantillon 1m 55.304s 88.7mph rec Provisional championship standings Superlight 1 Knox 20; 2 de Zille Butler 18; 3 Constable 17; 4 Murray 16 etc. Roadsport 1 Norris 20; 2= Andrew Blight & Robin Russell 15. R300 1 Grube 40; 2 Wolfgang Becker 35 etc. Invitation 1 Evrard 10; 2 Frost 7. pic: Chris Schotanus - Imagevaults
The opinions expressed on this site are not necessarily shared by 11/56 MotorSport or any of theGrid team Material Copyright © 2005 11/56 MotorSport