The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998
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Provisional final points placings CSR Masters
Provisional points placings Euro Superkights
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Backers for Caterham Motorsport's UK and European race series include Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Cheesman Products, Circuit Driver, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News, Stack and Steel Fabrications.
HAY & RICHARDS CLAIM THE CSR MASTERS TITLE
Richard Hay and Clive Richards are the 2007 evo Caterham Eurocup CSR Masters champions. The Colards Motorsport pairing finally clinched the title on Friday (19 Oct) at Brands Hatch after three seasons of battling against the odds to claim Caterham's most prestigious racing title. In both 2005 and in 2006 Hay and Richards were denied the championship laurels at the final meeting of the season, but this year - thanks to the 10 race wins they had racked up on the way to Brands - there were no slip-ups. "It feels really good finally to have won the championship," said Hay. Added Richards: "It's been a long three years but we got there in the end." There were no race wins at Brands for Hay and Richards; the victory spoils instead went to Hyperion Motorsport drivers Graham Fennymore and Oliver Bull/Philip Glew, with Michele Tommasi taking a popular maiden win also. Race 1 His victory margin over Bull was two seconds, with Olly a similar distance in front of Hay at the flag. Ironically third was the worst result of the season for Hay/Richards, but it was enough to win them the title. "It was frustrating not to be able to race properly," said Richard, "because I had to think about finishing. I'm sure I could have got past both Olly and Graham." Tommasi held fourth throughout the race and finished well ahead of the cars of Sarah Reader, Thomas Klein, Nick Phillips and Wolfgang Becker. Race 2 This left Lee Cunningham's TFL Racing CSR out in front of Tommasi and then Richards, Clive having started from pit lane after a tyre mix-up in qualifying lost him his practice times. Richards moved past Tommasi on lap seven and was then gifted the lead four laps later when Cunningham spun at Paddock. And the dramas were not yet over: Richards lasted but four laps in the lead before his gear lever came away in his hand and he coasted into the pits to record his team's first retirement of the season. That put Tommasi out front, with Kurt Hoffmann and Klein sniffing the chance of victory and bearing down on the Italian's Colards Motorsport machine. Michele held on in front by two-tenths to claim his maiden victory. "It was an eventful race but fun," said Michele. "I was getting slower and slower towards the end and Kurt was getting closer and closer. The flag came out just at the right time." Former German Caterham Champion Hoffmann was delighted with his first solo podium finish, but Klein was denied the opportunity to stand alongside his countryman by Cunningham, who passed him for third with two laps to go. Klein held on for fourth ahead of De Zille Butler, who had been penalised with a stop/go for an infringement of the safety car rules, Nigel Bent and Glew, who finished a lap in arrears after his off. Race 3 Richards was the first of the leading bunch to break for the pits to hand over to his team-mate, with De Zille Butler pitting from the front to give his CSR to Fennymore nine laps later. Cunningham inherited top spot and was the last of the stoppers. Lightning in/out laps by Tommasi put the Italian out just ahead of Bull/Glew and De Zille/Fennymore, but Michele did not hang on in front for long. Glew first overhauled Fennymore and then, on the next lap, found his way past Tommasi also; he quickly pulled a sizeable lead. Phil romped home 8.6s ahead of Fennymore to record the Acre Jean/Hyperion CSR's sixth race win of the season; the result secured championship second for his team-mate Bull. Tommasi was unable to maintain the pace of either of his rivals and finished third to claim his 10th podium of the season, as well as championship third. Hay brought the championship-winning car home a distant fourth with spent tyres, ahead of the Cunningham/Reader CSR, Klein and Hoffmann/Becker. Phillips was the only CSR casualty, Nick spinning off on the first lap after his car sprung a fuel leak. Provisional results:
CSR Masters Round 17 Brands Hatch
19 October Round 18 Brands Hatch
20 October BIALAN AND BATEMAN THE BRANDS EURO SUPERLIGHT VICTORS Charles Bateman and Chris Bialan shared the Eurocup Superlight Sprint race wins at Brands Hatch, with Bialan also emerging on top in the one-hour endurance race. Championship returnee Bateman enjoyed his first Caterham outing for a year by staging a race-long battle with Bialan in the first of Friday's 30-minute epics. The 20-year-old swapped the lead with his rival lap after lap and it was not until they touched while exiting Druids on the 27th lap that the matter was settled in Charles's favour. Bialan spun back to fourth but bravely fought past the cars of Clive Coote and Bill Addison to regain second by the end. Coote pipped Addison to third by half a second. Race two was much more straightforward for Bialan, who made a good start and built an early lead while Bateman struggled to find his way past Addison. Chris was nearly 15 seconds clear of Bateman at the chequered flag. He said: "It just shows that us old'uns can still show a bit of stamina." Coote placed third again to take Sprint Championship runner-up honours by a single point. With Coote an early retiree from the endurance race, Bialan had only Addison for company in the Superlight class. Chris passed Bill for the lead after the 10th lap and was never headed thereafter. He finished two laps clear. After mechanical problems blighted his qualifying and prevented him from racing in the sprint events, Simon Harris made the grid for the endurance race in his Vauxhall-engined Caterham and duly collected the Invitation Class prize. Provisional results:
Eurocup Superlight Round 17 Brands Hatch
19 October Round 18 Brands Hatch
20 October BULL BATTLES ON AFTER GERMAN VICTORIES
A win and two second-place finishes at the Nürburgring have put Richard Hay (pictured above) and Clive Richards on course finally to win the CSR Masters crown which has eluded them for the last two seasons. For although Oliver Bull and his driving partner Phil Glew took the other two race wins in Germany at the weekend (5/6 Oct), Bull requires a miracle if he is to snatch the championship at the final rounds in a fortnight's time. "It's not over just yet," said Olly, "and if there is any chance at all for us at Brands Hatch we will be taking it. We seem to have the momentum now and three wins is our target for Brands." Fifty-four points separates Bull from Hay/Richards, who between them have won 10 of their 15 evo Caterham Eurocup races and have finished second in the other five. In the Superlight division at the Nürburgring, 2006 Caterham Masters Champion Nathan Bell returned to the cockpit to drive Terry Clark's car to victory in one of the sprint races. Chris Bialan won the other sprint and also the one-hour feature race.
Race 1 "I think we swapped the lead at least once every lap," said Glew. "My car wasn't perfect because the new engine was a bit tight, but it was good enough." The duel came down to the last lap, Glew slicing ahead in the early part of the lap and then playing the backmarkers to perfection towards the end. "I overtook them just before the final chicane," added Phil, "because I knew that if I did it there Clive would struggle to get past them and back at me." "We came up on the backmarkers at just the wrong moment for me," conceded Clive, who was three-tenths behind at the flag. Payne, who had passed Glew for second at one point, had to settle for third. The leading trio was well clear of the queue of pursuing CSRs, headed by the car of Michele Tommasi with Thomas Klein and Sarah Reader right behind.
In the Superlight division Bialan(pictured)
Race2 Hay's victory was therefore a relatively easy one, although Tommasi had serious designs on claiming his maiden win. "After Olly slowed I think Richard backed off a bit and I caught him easily, but then two laps from the end I made a mistake and lost his tow," said Michele. Hay was a second clear at the line, with last year's Eurocup third-place championship finisher, Ted Murray, claiming an excellent third on his CSR debut. Kurt Hoffmann managed just to stay ahead of Reader to take fourth, with Klein sixth, Andrew Beaumont seventh, Nick Phillips eighth and the hapless Bull ninth. Despite failing to win the Superlights, Bialan enjoyed his second outing much more because he was duelling with Bell for more than half the race: "It was a great fight," said Chris. Nathan managed to shake his determined pursuer towards the end to take a 9.2-second class victory, with Coote third and Barbour fourth. Addison failed to make a lap after his clutch failed.
Race 3 Bull handed over to Glew on the 14th lap with a small lead over Payne; Tommasi had pitted already and Hay had stopped three laps earlier for Richards to take over their CSR. It was this trio which would dispute victory for the remaining 12 laps. Richards took his turn in front but, mindful of the possible consequences of an increasingly fractious fight between Glew and Tommasi, he elected to keep clear and let them decide the matter between themselves. There were several on-track incidents between them, plus a regrettable further one in the pit lane post-race, for which both Glew and Tommasi were fined for bringing the sport into disrepute. Glew crossed the line in front to record the Acre Jean CSR's fifth win of the year, with Richards getting the better of Tommasi in the closing laps to take second. Reader battled against a failing gearbox to claim fourth ahead of Murray, Payne/Beaumont, Wangard/Hoffmann and Phillips/Bent. Klein was black-flagged after failing to take a stop/go penalty imposed for pit lane speeding. Bell took an early lead in the Superlight division, pursued by Coote for several laps until Clive's battery failed, and Nathan held on in front until his pit stop to hand over to Clark. Bialan moved in front after his stop and motored on to take an impressive 47-second victory over Clark, with Terry just managing to fend off Addison and claim second. Bialan's result secures for him second place in the Superlight Endurance championship behind recently crowned victor Graham Fennymore. Second place in the Superlight Sprint stakes is still very much open and going down to the wire.
Provisional results: CSR Masters
Round 14 Nürburgring 5 October
Round 15 Nürburgring 6 October
Provisional results: Eurocup Superlight
Round 14 Nürburgring 5 October
Round 15 Nürburgring 6 October
EUROCUP BATTLES THRILL AT SPA-FRANCHORCHAMPS Richard Hay and Clive Richards further extended their evo Caterham Eurocup CSR Masters points lead with two narrow race victories at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday (4 August) while Philip Glew claimed his maiden Caterham win in the third of the day's races. Meanwhile Graham Fennymore endured a roller-coaster ride of emotions on his way to securing both the Superlight Sprint and Endurance Eurocup titles. He won two of the three races, fitting his track activities between a trip to hospital to visit two of his pit crew, including his father, Michael, who were injured in a horrific crash. The freak accident happened close to the end of the day's first race when the CSRs of Malcolm Johnstone and Thomas Klein collided on the pit straight. Klein's car hit the pit wall and skated along the top, scattering bodywork as team members dived for cover. It was miraculous more were not hurt; the injured suffered severe cuts but were released from hospital after a few hours. The race was red-flagged, bringing to an end a fantastic three-car duel between Richards, Oliver Bull and CSR newcomer Lee Cunningham, whose cars swapped the lead several times each lap. Bull had started the race from pole in the Acre Jean/Hyperion car and was well placed to score victory, but his hopes were dashed by the red flags. The results were counted back to the lap before the crash, at which point Richards' HayFisher/Colards CSR was an inch or two ahead. "It was a cracking race," said Clive, "and Olly and Lee both drove brilliantly. Either of them could have won. I had a plan for the final lap to get Olly under braking at La Source, but as things turned out I did not have to..." The Superlight battle was no less entertaining, with Fennymore recovering from a slow opening lap to overcome the cars of Eurocup debutant Glen Denny and then, with three laps to go, Mike Cantillon. Less than half a second separated the top two at the line. Alastair Chalmers and his R400 collected the Invitation Class prize. After the frightening events of the first race, the second 30-minute sprint was an understandably muted affair. Glew delivered a copybook performance to lead every inch of the way from pole position to chequered flag as Hay struggled to keep pace with him. Phil's lead by lap three was 2.8 seconds, and he stretched it to nearly 18 seconds by the end. "It was a bit like a qualifying session for me, really," said Glew. "I made a good start, built a useful lead and then concentrated on preserving my tyres." Hay was unable to respond thanks to a failing catalytic converter but finished well clear of third-placed Joachim Westermann, who had battled his way through from seventh. The bad luck story of the race belonged to Nick Payne, who charged through the field from the back to take up third by the seventh lap. Unfortunately his progress was halted two laps later by a failed battery. Fennymore, freshly returned from his hospital dash, led a determined Cantillon for much of the distance. Undeterred by losing his nosecone in a first-lap clash with a CSR, Cantillon pressured Fennymore all the way to the seventh lap, when Mike tangled with another. That left Denny to take up the cudgels, and he did so in style. "I managed to get back into Graham's tow towards the end and then it was all down to the last lap..." said Glen. Fennymore tried to defend at La Source hairpin but Denny spotted a gap and went for it to win his maiden Caterham race by eight-hundredths of a second. Cantillon placed third but was later excluded for his part in the first-lap collision, handing the place to his Team Parker Racing running mate Jamie Constable. Chalmers was again the Invitation Class victor. It was only the second Eurocup race defeat of the season for Fennymore but second place provided him with enough points to secure the Sprint championship title with four rounds in hand. The feature race provided yet more excitement as the needle match between Richards/Hay and Bull/Glew continued unabated for the entire 60 minutes. Westermann battled with them for the lead until his hand-over to Kurt Hoffmann, with the two frontrunners then pitting together after 13 laps of duelling. Hay and Bull were the men at the wheel for the dash to the flag and both had their eyes on the big prize. "My car was back to full health," said Richard, "and we had a great fight." Bull led into the final lap but Hay slipstreamed past. "I had a plan to get him back at Blanchimont but it didn't work out," said Olly, "and from then on Richard defended very hard. We touched but he wasn't giving in." Hay crossed the line a hairsbreadth ahead to score his team's ninth race win of the year. The battle for third went down to the line also, with Frenchman Loïc Martinez beating the Westermann/Hoffmann CSR to the final podium position. Denny once again kept Fennymore on his toes throughout the Superlight battle but lost time at the mandatory pit stop, which gave Graham a little breathing space. Fennymore was delighted with his race win and his second championship title of the day: "After everything that has happened today I am looking forward to putting my feet up tonight and having a large beer to celebrate. I am just so relieved that all my team members will be there to celebrate with me because it could have worked out very differently." Provisional results:
CSR Masters Round 11 Spa-Francorchamps
4 August Round 12 Spa-Francorchamps
4 August
Provisional results:
Eurocup Superlight Round 11 Spa-Francorchamps
4 August Round 12 Spa-Francorchamps
4 August
EUROCUP HAT-TRICK FOR RICHARDS & HAY Richard Hay and Clive Richards celebrated the Seven's 50th anniversary in the best style possible at Donington Park this weekend, the duo between them claiming a hat-trick of evo Caterham Eurocup race victories to extend their overall series points lead. Hay drove the Colards Motorsport-prepared, HayFisher-backed CSR260 to a comfortable win in the first of the two 30-minute sprint races on Saturday, with Richards repeating the feat in race two. Sunday's one-hour double-hander brought them their third win of the weekend, at the expense of their chief title rival Olly Bull and his new team-mate Philip Glew. Saturday's opening race was a thriller, pole-sitter Hay duelling for many laps with the Acre Jean/Hyperion car in Bull's hands. Richard and Olly traded the lead, and fastest lap, until the 15th of the 24 laps, when Bull was forced into the pits, and eventual retirement, with an electrical problem. This left Hay with a commanding lead which he extended to a five-second victory margin. "I only had one problem," said Hay, "which was that the data logger dropped into my lap and I had to hold it between my knees for much of the race! It's a great result for our championship hopes but I feel very sorry for Olly. He would have been hard to beat." Second place was scooped by Hay's Colards Motorsport team-mate Michele Tommasi - his best result of the season - after both the Taylor's Foundry entries struck trouble. Gerry Taylor dived for the pits for attention after collecting a corner marker post while Malcolm Johnstone's excellent showing was brought to an end by a broken fuse. Sarah Reader's superb qualifying form was underlined in the race, the 24-year-old collecting her first solo third-place finish, just 6.3 seconds behind victor Hay. Visiting South African racer James Forbes was delighted with his fourth place on his maiden CSR outing. George Brewster and Nigel Bent completed the top six. In the Superlight division Graham Fennymore saw off an early challenge from David Knox and series returnee Ted Murray to take another convincing win, despite an intermittent electrical problem. Murray overhauled Knox for second on the fourth lap but was unable to catch the runaway Fennymore. Chris Bialan finished fourth, behind Knox, with Gary Halcrow and Clive Coote fifth and sixth. The R400 of Alastair Chalmers collected the Invitation Class prize. There were different drivers at the wheel of the HayFisher and Acre Jean CSRs for race two but the battle between them was no less intense. Newcomer Glew demonstrated his adaptability in qualifying, pipping Clive Richards to the pole by three-tenths and, though beaten to the first corner by his more experienced rival, he repassed him to lead on the opening lap. Richards and Glew swapped the lead several more times before Clive managed to pull a second's breathing space by the 10th lap. Unfortunately for him all his good work was undone by a safety car period necessitated by a crash between the CSRs of Thomas Klein and Peter Schmidt-Loffler. Glew got the drop on Richards at the restart and forcefully fended off Clive's attempts to repass; Philip looked set to record a win on his debut. Unfortunately for Glew his plan came unstuck on the final lap when he tangled with a backmarker at the Old Hairpin; Clive seized his chance as Philip sorted himself out, nipping through the chaos to claim a nine-second victory. Tommasi was the grateful recipient of second place, the London-based Italian crossing the line nine seconds behind his team leader after recovering from a mid-race interlude behind Reader. Glew recovered to third, thwarting Reader's attempts to pass him on the final lap, with Nick Phillips an excellent fifth, his pace not blunted by six months out of the cockpit. Brewster took sixth. His electrical gremlins traced and cured moments before the off, Fennymore was on devastating form in the Superlight division, passing early leader Knox on the second lap and romping to his seventh race win of the season. For good measure he lowered Murray's lap record, set in the first race, by two-tenths of a second. Thanks to the safety car period Murray was closer to the winner this time, and well ahead of third-placed David Bend. Bialan, Terry Clark and Sean Nash completed the top six. Simon Harris was the Invitation Class winner. The one-hour endurance race provided even more of the same dramatic action, with Bull once again up against Hay in the opening stint and the two CSRs locked in combat for the lead right up to the opening of the pit-stop window. Hay was the first of the leading duo to break for the pits, Bull following him in three laps later. With their new pilots on board, however, the tussle between them came to an end: Clive Richards emerged from the stops with a second's lead over Philip Glew and he was able to pull away to claim victory by 3.9 seconds. It seems all to have been in the tyres: "Our left rear was not in as good shape as theirs," said Bull. "For some reason it had worn more and Philip didn't have the pace." Added Richards: "I was relieved that Philip didn't seem to be able to stay with me. This hat-trick of wins is just what we needed. After two seasons of finishing second in the title race it gives us real hope that we might be able to pull it off at last this year." Tommasi once again made the podium, taking third place some five seconds ahead of Reader, who put in another gritty solo drive. Johnstone made up for his sprint race disappointments to claim fifth ahead of fellow Scots Brewster and Iain Cowie. Fennymore's drive to Superlight class victory was remarkable by any standard. A gearbox change before the race was completed minutes after he should have been on the grid, and he was forced to start the race from pit lane well after the rest had departed. But Graham, who completed the opening lap 56 seconds behind his only class rival, Chris Bialan, was not deterred. "I thought I didn't stand a chance but after a few laps I could see Chris in the distance and it was a question of reeling him in, inch by inch." Fennymore seized the lead nine laps from the end to complete his Donington hat-trick and collect Eurocup win number eight. Simon Harris was once again the Invitation class winner.
Provisional results: CSR Masters Round
8 Donington Park 2 June Round
9 Donington Park 3 June
Provisional results: Eurocup Superlight Round
8 Donington Park 2 June Round
9 Donington Park 3 June .
EUROCUP THRILLS AT VAL DE VIENNE With wins for Richard Hay/Clive Richards, Oliver Bull and Graham Fennymore, Saturday's (5 May) French rounds of the evo Caterham Eurocup provided excitement and drama in equal measure. It was the first-ever visit for the series to the Val de Vienne circuit, and its twisty, technical nature played into the hands of the experienced racers. The CSR 260 of Clive Richards' own Colards Motorsport team won the first of the single-driver sprint races, with Bull defying a disintegrating gearbox to win the second in the Acre Jean/Hyperion CSR. Oliver could do nothing about the Richards/Hay partnership in the one-hour feature race, however, and had to settle for second. Fennymore was a triple Superlight victor, overcoming stiff challenges from Eurocup newcomer Gary Halcrow and even a stop-go penalty in the feature race. Race one brought Richards one of the most commanding wins of his long Caterham racing career. Having annexed the pole by a nine-tenth margin, Clive made the most of his grid advantage to romp away from Bull and impressive 19-year-old Christian Wangard. Within two laps Richards had built a three-second lead and then, as Bull came under pressure from Wangard and then Michele Tommasi, Clive took advantage to extend his lead further still. On the fourth lap Bull slipped behind both Tommasi and Wangard into the Pif-Paf chicane to set the scene for a thrilling duel for second which lasted almost until race end. Bull fought back past the German on the next lap and then retook second on the eighth tour. "I took a lap or two to sort myself out and then picked them off," said Olly, who then proceeded to pull away from his pursuers to cement second place. Wangard briefly displaced Tommasi from third but the German karting champion lost his opportunity of gaining a podium finish on his car-racing debut with a time-consuming trip through the gravel at the Trop Tard hairpin. Richards crossed the line 8.7s ahead of Bull to score the third win of the season for the Hay-Fisher CSR. "It wasn't your normal Caterham race," conceded Clive, "because I was able to make a good break quite early on. The car was perfect." Tommasi finished close behind Olly for third while Frenchman Olivier Guerin retook fourth from his countryman Hervé Cordel on the last lap to take the honours in a race-long three-way duel which also involved Malcolm Johnstone. Wangard recovered from his off to salvage seventh, ahead of Philippe Simon and German contenders Thomas Klein and Wolfgang Becker. Just as Richards did in the pace-setting CSR class, so Fennymore was able to pull away from his Superlight rivals at the start and establish early superiority. Gary Halcrow ran Fennymore closest but was beset from the outset by severe vibrations from the rear of his car, later diagnosed as a broken suspension component. Reigning Roadsport Champion Halcrow, who was making his Eurocup debut, was able to hold on to second, surviving a spin and staying just ahead of another championship newcomer, Chris Bialan. Clive Coote soldiered on to fourth despite a gearbox problem. The second sprint race saw battle rejoined yet again between Bull in the black Acre Jean-backed CSR and the orange Hay-Fisher Caterham, this time with Richard Hay at the controls. Bull made an excellent start from the pole to lead into the first turn with Hay slotting in behind after a great getaway from fourth on the grid, the throttle problems which had slowed him in qualifying apparently sorted. Bull and Hay pulled away from third-placed Tommasi as Michele fought Loïc Martinez to retain third, and Richard bided his time until the eighth lap before mounting a successful attack on the lead along the back straight. He thought the race was in the bag: "I saw a puff of oily smoke from the back of Olly's car in the early laps and thought it was probably his gearbox on the way out," said Richard. "I didn't expect him to come back at me." But fight back Bull did, despite Tommasi having caught up to make it a three-car lead battle, and four laps from the end Oliver retook top spot. "I squeezed Richard a little at the end of the back straight and he backed out," said Bull, who went on to claim his maiden win at the wheel of a CSR by a half-second margin. Olly did not know till later just how lucky he had been to win, for the puff of smoke that Hay had spotted had indeed signalled the end of the gearbox, which failed as the car was driven back to the paddock. Tommasi was once again an excellent third - his third podium finish of the season - having successfully held off the attentions of Martinez, who took an easy fourth ahead of the battling cars of Cordel, Johnstone and Guerin. Germany's Kurt Hoffmann placed eighth with Swiss driver Pascal Engel ninth and Hyperion boss Steve Hindle a rather distant 10th. With Halcrow's Superlight restored to full health, Gary was on superb form from the outset, harassing Fennymore relentlessly and even nosing ahead of him for the class lead for a couple of laps until his enthusiasm got the better of him and he slipped behind not only Fennymore but also Bialan and Coote. The latter duo were engaged in a titanic struggle for Superlight second for 11 laps, until Bialan got a mite too close to his rival in the startline hairpin just at the moment Coote missed a gear. The result was a holed radiator and Chris had thereafter to settle for a sedate pace and fourth at the flag. Halcrow staged one of his trademark comeback drives to repass Coote for second but had no chance of catching Fennymore, who took the win by a 20-second margin. "Gary drove really well in the early laps," said Graham, "but then he fell back and I was able to take it relatively steadily, because I was not on my best set of tyres and my clutch wasn't quite right." The race was on for the Hyperion Motorsport/Acre Jean team even before the lights went green to signal the start of the hour-long feature race. They had barely an hour to complete an engine-out gearbox change on Bull's CSR and achieved the job in a record 52 minutes. Thus Oliver was able to take his rightful place on the front row of the grid alongside the pole-sitting Hay-Fisher car, which was to be started by Hay. Richard made another impeccable getaway to lead the first third of the race, pitting to hand over to Clive Richards on the 12th lap, just after conceding the lead to a determined Bull. Tommasi spun out of the pack on the opening lap, which left third place to be disputed by old hand Martinez and the inexperienced youngster Wangard. Loïc held sway initially only to lose the place to Christian on the fourth lap. Bull held the lead for only three laps before his mandatory two-minute stop; when he emerged from the pits Oliver was once again second and had little hope of staying with leader Richards. "I had the pace of Richard Hay," said Olly, "but Clive had those extra few tenths and I couldn't live with him. The car was great considering the work that had to be done to get it to the grid. The team did a fantastic job for me." Richards crossed the line 3.4s ahead of Bull, with Wangard a distant but nonetheless laudable third, which hints at a bright future in Caterham racing. Johnstone held fourth for many laps until Guerin moved ahead in the closing stages. Cordel took sixth ahead of the Klein/Engel and Becker/Hindle cars. Martinez's good drive came to nothing when, after handing it over to Philippe Simon, his car was retired with mechanical problems. A mid-race pit-stop blunder nearly cost Fennymore his third win of the day in the Superlight division. Graham was sent on his way well before the two minutes was up, earning the driver a stop-go penalty. "It was a misunderstanding," he said. "I couldn't believe it when I saw my car's number on the stop-go board!" His second pit stop cost Fennymore time but not the class lead: his closest challenger Halcrow was already out of the running after a brush with another car. "It was my good luck that Gary was out of it. Had he still been in the race things might have worked out differently." So it was that Bialan took second, nearly a minute behind Fennymore, with Coote a delighted third. Provisional
results: CSR Masters Round 5 Val de
Vienne 5 May Round 6 Val de
Vienne 5 May
Provisional
results: Eurocup Superlight Round 5 Val de
Vienne 5 May Round 6 Val de
Vienne 5 May
2 OUT OF 3 FOR RICHARDS & HAY IN GERMANY
A trio of exciting evo Caterham Eurocup races at Hockenheim in Germany this weekend (13/14 April) brought an early CSR Masters championship lead for old hands Clive Richards and Richard Hay, plus a race victory for 18-year-old newcomer Ed Morris - the championship's youngest ever winner. Though there was a new-for-'07 format of two 30-minute sprint races plus a one-hour feature race, the series had a more than familiar look as the Colards Motorsport-prepared car of Hay and Richards, the 2005 and '06 runners-up, went into battle once more against the Hyperion/Acre Jean car, this season in the hands of Morris and Oliver Bull. It was the veterans who got the better of things in qualifying, Richards snatching the pole for his race by a tenth from Kurt Hoffmann, while Hay edged Morris by four-hundredths. Sprint race one brought Richards up against Bull, and predictably they quickly broke away from the pack to pursue a private battle for race victory. They exchanged the lead on a dozen occasions at least but it was Richards who pinched it for good at the hairpin on the final lap, leading his rival across the line by three-tenths. "Everything went according to plan," said Clive. "I pressed Olly hard to see where he could respond and then it was just a question of making sure I was right behind him into the last lap." Italy's Michele Tommasi came back from sixth on the opening lap to emerge triumphant in a long battle for third with Malcolm Johnstone and Jamie Constable. Johnstone was a tenth behind at the flag but Constable finished seventh after overcooking it in the final stages when the trio came upon some backmarkers. Sarah Reader and Phillipe Evrard placed fifth and sixth. There was disappointment for the German contenders: Hoffmann went off on lap two after a brush with Johnstone while newcomer Thomas Klein hobbled home eighth in an overheating car. Sprint race two witnessed a stirring drive through the field by Morris, who slipped way back on the opening lap. "I was just about last," said Ed, "and so I had to set about picking them off." He made fourth on the opening lap, then the top three next time around and, within three laps, had displaced Hay from second and was bearing down on Joachim Westermann, who had led from the green light. Westermann appeared to have had the best from his tyres by mid-distance and Morris was not slow to capitalise, Constable following him past the German car to push Westermann down to third. Hay had meanwhile been pushed back to sixth and had to fight past Tommasi and Johnstone to get back in the hunt. Despite a steadily stiffening gearbox Richard was back on Ed's tail with four laps to go, but that was as close as he would get to victory. "Despite the gearbox I still could have passed him," said Richard, "but he made it very difficult to do so safely." So Morris triumphed by four-tenths, with Constable emerging third behind Hay for Team Parker Racing after getting the better of a long fight with Tommasi, Westermann and Johnstone. Saturday's Feature Race should have provided double the intrigue, but an eighth-lap accident sadly robbed it of two leading contenders. Bull had assumed the lead on the opening lap and had just lost it to a determined Hay when, entering the Stadium section, he felt his engine misfire momentarily. It picked up again but then, entering the Südkurve, it died completely and the closely pursuing Tommasi rammed Bull from behind. "I tried everything to restart the engine," said Olly, "but nothing worked. And then. whack." Both cars ended their race there, Tommasi's badly damaged after impact with the barriers. The problem with Bull's car was traced to a faulty wiring loom. This left Hay with a 4.5-second advantage over Constable, with Westermann third. Hay was the first to stop, handing an increased lead over to his partner Richards, who then stretched it to nearly 20 seconds by flag fall. Johnstone timed his stop well to move into second place and claim his first CSR podium finish, ahead of Hoffmann and Westermann, Constable, Reader, Evrard and the Klein/Thomas Engel car, which was much improved after an overnight engine change. Provisional
results: CSR Masters Round 2 Hockenheim
13 April Round 3 Hockenheim
14 April
FENNYMORE & CANTILLON WIN AT HOCKENHEIM
Half a gallon of petrol stood between Graham Fennymore's Superlight and a clean sweep of evo Caterham Eurocup race victories at Hockenheim on Friday and Saturday (13/14 Apr). Fennymore, the reigning UK Superlight champ, was racing his Caterham overseas for the first time, but his lack of experience of the German Grand Prix track failed to blunt his performance even in the slightest. Graham went quickest by a tenth in first qualifying in his Ambitions Racing/Hyperion machine, with David Knox his nearest rival, and in qualifying two Fennymore edged himself on to the pole once again, this time by seven-tenths, ahead of Team Parker's Mike Cantillon. Fennymore made a conservative start to the first of the two sprint races, then claimed the lead from early pacesetter Knox on lap two. Cantillon and Knox sparred for second place until David's exit with a gearbox problem on lap five, by which time Fennymore was two seconds in front and extending his advantage with every lap. But it all went wrong for Graham on the final lap, when his engine started to splutter. "We miscalculated the fuel required," admitted Fennymore. "Gutted isn't the word." Things could have been worse: he at least managed to get across the line without losing second to the fast-approaching Steve Frost. Cantillon was a delighted and surprised winner by four seconds. "I had a great battle early on with David but when he went out I had nobody to tow from and couldn't stay with Graham. I am as surprised as he is that it was me who won!" Frost's popular podium finish was his best-ever result in a Caterham sprint race and he was delighted with it after six seasons of toil. Series newcomer Clive Coote was an excellent fourth, ahead of Bill Addison, who had had to start from the back after breaking his gearbox in pre-race testing. John Barbour and Terry Clark placed sixth and seventh respectively. There were no mistakes from Fennymore in sprint race two; he led every inch of it, from pole position to chequered flag. "That makes up for my earlier error!" said Graham. With Knox still sidelined with gearbox problems, Cantillon had another lonely drive to second, just over 10 seconds behind Fennymore. Frost was once again third, ahead of Addison and Clark. Barbour spun on the opening lap and Coote became entangled with him; both were unclassified. And so to the new-look finale of the weekend, the one-hour feature race. Again Fennymore dominated but it was not a straightforward win. A poor start saw Graham well down the order: "I was nigh-on last, but my plan was to take it gently and avoid any trouble." Stealthily he picked his way past Cantillon and Frost on lap two and then he seized the lead from Knox next time around. Within three laps he had eased away from Cantillon and Knox, who were scrapping over second, by 4.5 seconds and the race was, pit-stops notwithstanding, effectively in his pocket. His stop was completed calmly and efficiently and Fennymore cruised on to a 30-second win. The battle for second spot raged all the way to the chequered flag, Knox and Cantillon swapping the advantage several times a lap, Mike the last to take the baton by getting ahead of his rival at the hairpin on the final tour. Coote followed Knox home for fourth, with Frost placing fifth. Provisional
results: Eurocup Superlight Round 2 Hockenheim
13 April Round 3 Hockenheim
14 April Provisional
points placings
Backers for Caterham Motorsport's UK and European race series include Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Cheesman Products, Circuit Driver, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News, Stack and Steel Fabrications. Ends
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assumed
control at the start and immediately pulled a clear lead over his
pursuers; he extended his advantage all the way to the chequered flag;
"It was a bit dull for me really," said Chris, "but I am delighted that
my first Superlight podium should be a win." John Barbour got the better
of an entertaining race-long battle with Bill Addison for second, with
Clive Coote beating Terry Clark to fourth spot.
