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Provisional points
CSR
1 Hay & Richards 56; 2 Hoffmann & Payne 55; 3 Cordel 53; 4 Martinez 45 etc
Superlight
1 Barbour 58; =2 Addison, Bill Maher & Simon Young 34 etc
Roadsport
1 Peter Young 58; 2 Humberstone 53; 3 Walton 52; 4 Powell 49 etc

 

The next round of the evo Caterham Eurocup is scheduled for Valencia, Spain, next month.

 

 

 

 

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SPA THRILLS FOR EUROCUP CHALLENGERS

A new triple sprint race/three-class format for the evo Caterham Eurocup proved a resounding success at Spa-Francorchamps at the weekend (9-11 May) with the many thousands of spectators gathered for the Belgian circuit's prestigious 1000km sports car race enjoying a triple helping of dramatic Caterham action.

Reigning CSR Masters champions Richard Hay(pictured) and Clive Richards gave masterclass demonstrations in their individual races, guiding their Colards Motorsport machine to handsome victories in each. But they were swamped by two fast Frenchmen, Hervé Cordel and Loïc Martinez in Sunday's double-hander and then beaten back to fourth by the Acre Jean team pairing of Kurt Hoffmann and Nick Payne, who snatched a brilliant last-lap victory.

There was superb action also in the Superlight and Roadsport classes. In the former, John Barbour took twin wins to assume the points lead and in the latter Peter Young was a double victor.

CSR Masters
Hay ran away with race one from pole position, building a 1.3-second lead over Martinez on the opening lap and continuing to build on his advantage thereafter. Cordel, who took over second after Martinez spun, narrowed Hay's advantage slightly on the fifth lap; Richard quickly got the message that his position was under threat. "I realised that he was catching so I thought I'd better get a move on," said Hay.

Cordel beat off a determined challenge from CSR debutant Simon Crompton to retain second, four-and-a-half seconds behind Hay, with Crompton a comfortable third ahead of Hoffmann despite a last-lap vibration problem. The championship's first Polish competitor, Jaroslaw Wierczuk, took fifth and Martinez sixth. Among the non-finishers was Olivier Guerin, who broke a collar bone when his CSR struck the pit wall five laps from home.

Race two provided Richards with the perfect opportunity to show that anything his team-mate Hay could do, he could do better. Clive's lead over his nearest rival, fellow front-row starter Nick Phillips, by the end of the opening lap was 2 seconds, and that was as close as anyone would get. "It wasn't the most exciting race I've ever been involved in," said Richards, "but it was a satisfying win nonetheless."

There was plenty of excitement behind Richards, however, as Payne - who had started from row nine after gearchange dramas in qualifying - staged a charge to the front. He made the top 10 on the second lap and overhauled Phillips for fourth on lap 10. Ahead lay Martinez and Cordel, who were despatched within three laps, and then there was just Richards... "It was a long time before my car came right," said Nick, "and by the time I made it to second place Clive was too far away and there was no time left to catch him."

Richards crossed the line 6.4s ahead of Payne, with Cordel picking up third after Thoralf Grube and Martinez tangled on the final lap. Fourth fell to Phillips, with Wierczuk fifth once more and Grube recovering to sixth.

The third and final race was the best of the weekend, with three cars in contention for victory throughout and a fourth joining the battle right at the end. Richards started from the pole but was unable on this occasion to get away from his pursuers. Martinez it was who held sway initially, before Richards fought back to the front and then Cordel took up the running.

So engaging was the battle for the lead, which continued after the pit stops and driver changes, that the progress of the Acre Jean car passed almost unnoticed. Former Caterham Germany Champion Hoffmann drove an excellent first stint to hand the car over to Payne in fifth spot, and Nick wasted no time in moving up to fourth past the Phillips/Bent CSR.

With five laps to go Nick had a 7.6s deficit over the leading trio. He halved that gap within three laps and then displaced Hay for third next time around. The final lap was a blur for the young Londoner: "I can't remember for the life of me where I passed Martinez, but I got Cordel on the inside at Blanchimont and just managed to hang on. It was a great race, a lot of fun." His driving partner Hoffmann was overjoyed to claim his maiden win in a CSR.

Just seven-tenths covered Payne, Cordel and Martinez at the flag, with Hay in close pursuit for fourth, well ahead of Lionel Vialaneix. Phillips came home sixth to celebrate his 52nd birthday.

Superlight
There were superb Superlight scraps throughout each of the races. In the first, Rob Durrant - enjoying his first Caterham race for seven seasons - looked like he'd never been away, leading at the end of every lap despite the best efforts of his pursuers. He beat Barbour to the line by two seconds, with Simon Young and Bill Addison misfiring their way to third and fourth places respectively.

Race two brought disaster for Durrant's driving partner, Terry Clark, who crashed out while disputing third with Carl Woodwiss. Young's misfire returned to blight his chances and Barbour lifted the win, well ahead of Patrick Maher, Young and Ron Johnson.

Barbour (pictured) won again in race three, but he very nearly didn't. Having done all the hard work early on to get ahead of his classmates he let three of them past: "I saw this train of cars bearing down on me in my mirrors and pulled over to let them past, thinking they were CSRs lapping me!" he said. It took John only two laps to catch and repass them; he finished two seconds clear of Addison at the flag, with the Johnson & Johnson Superlight third ahead of Maher and Woodwiss.

Roadsport
Close, and closer still... Less than a second covered the top two Roadsports in each of thee races, and nearly all the entrants took a turn at leading on what was, for most, their first experience of the grand Belgian Grand Prix circuit.

Peter Young, younger brother of Superlight man Simon, took the victory in race one, with Andrew Walton, Colin Powell and Lee Moulden in line astern. Dax Humberstone had led but finished fifth, running on not much more than petrol fumes, with Mark Drain sixth.

Humberstone received a whack up the rear early on in race two: "I was that mad that I really put my foot down," said the Lancashire ace. He and Young broke away towards the end to finish 1-2, well ahead of Walton, Powell and Drain.

Humberstone and Young were once again the chief protagonists in race three, with Powell and Walton taking their turns in front also. At the line it was Young in front once again, this time from Humberstone, Walton, Powell and Drain. Roadsport B driver Paul Fleury was the sole Invitation class runner, and he made it to the end of all but the last race.

 

Provisional results
Race 1: 16 laps/69.62m

CSR
1 Richard Hay GB 42m33.200s
2 Hervé Cordel FRA +4.556s
3 Simon Crompton GB +15.214s
Fastest lap Cordel 2m37.783s
Superlight
1 Rob Durrant GB 16 laps in 45m5.559s
2 John Barbour GB +2.099s
3 Simon Young GB +6.939s
Roadsport
1 Peter Young GB 14 laps in 43m28.672s
2 Andrew Walton GB +0.286s
3 Colin Powell GB +1.651s
Invitation
1 Paul Fleury GB 14 laps in 43m54.876s

Race 2: 15 laps/65.27m
CSR
1 Clive Richards GB 40m8.566s
2 Nick Payne GB +6.426s
3 Cordel +6.758s
Fastest lap Payne 2m37.715s
Superlight
1 Barbour 15 laps in 42m50.718s
2 Patrick Maher 14 laps
3 Simon Young 14 laps
Roadsport
1 Dax Humberstone GB 13 laps in 40m17.402s
2 Peter Young +0.297s
3 Walton +11.160s
Invitation
1 Fleury 13 laps in 42m8.789s

Race 3: 15 laps/65.27m
CSR
1 Kurt Hoffmann GER/Payne 42m19.208s
2 Cordel +0.555s
3 Loïc Martinez FRA +0.743s
Superlight
1 Barbour 15 laps in 44m53.308s
2 Bill Addison GB +1.946s
3 Piers Johnson/Ron Johnson GB +4.158s
Roadsport
1 Peter Young 14 laps in 42m59.186s
2 Humberstone +0.886s
3 Walton +1.367s

Backers for Caterham Motorsport's UK and European race series include Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Cooper-Avon Tyres, The Daily Telegraph, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC, insuremotorsport.com, Motorsport News, Quaife and Stack.