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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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mail your news to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk
BRSCC LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championshipwww.LMAeurosaloons.co.uk for the latest news Round 9: Snetterton 25 October 2009 Race Report Last gasp win for Tony Soper Class wins for Richard Hawken, Mark Cripps, Ian Craig and David Pierce The final round, round nine of the 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship took place at Snetterton. Qualifying: A damp but drying track meant qualifying times were a little off expected race pace. Tony Soper in the Class A Harrier set the pole time almost a second clear of second placed (and Class B pole) Ilsa Cox in her Seat Leon. Peter Challis was 1/20th second behind Cox and would be hoping to extend his 100% win record for the season. Gary Furst (Mitsubishi Evo) and Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera) were also within 1/5th second of Cox on the grid. Kevin Wendt (BMW M3) was struggling and only managed 2 slow laps leaving Nick Hayes (Seat Leon) to narrowly fend off Mark Cripps (BMW M3) in the battle for Class C pole. Ian Craig’s older BMW M3 took the Class D pole while David Pierce (Renault Clio) was well clear of fellow Clio drivers Jason Tarling and Stewart Calder in taking the Class E pole. With the weather having remained bright, the track was now dry. Tony Soper got a bad start from pole and by the end of the first lap had fallen back to 7th place, and would indeed lose another place the following lap while waiting for the Harrier to properly warm up. Peter Challis had come through from 3rd on the grid to lead after one lap, his regular combatant throughout the season, Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza), had blasted through to 2nd from 6th on the grid. Richard Hawken was a couple of seconds further back, closely followed by Ilsa Cox and Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth). Cockell passed Cox for 4th place on lap 3 and moved passed Hawken into 3rd the following lap. At the front, Harvey was tracking Challis just a second behind while further back, Soper was now on the move. Harvey was gaining on Challis on lap 5 and brought the gap down to 0.6 second before Challis pulled off the track and out of the race. Harvey was now leading by three seconds from Cockell with Simon Deaton (Mitsubishi Evo) and Soper a further 6 seconds back in 3rd and 4th. Already (lap 6) Harvey was lapping the backmarkers which allowed Cockell to close up to within 1 second by lap 8. Soper moved up into 3rd place on lap 9 but was still 6 seconds adrift of Harvey. Soper set a new outright LMA lap record on lap 11 gaining three seconds on that lap alone, now Harvey led Cockell by a second with Soper just a second further back. Soper passed Cockell for 2nd on lap 13 and the gap was down to 0.7 seconds, on lap 14 it was 0.6 and on lap 15 just 0.35 with Cockell just 0.5 seconds further back. It was all down to the last lap, surely the extra power of the Subaru engine would be enough for Harvey to take the win? Coming out of Russell on the final lap, Soper got better exit speed. In the race for the line, both Harvey and Soper lapped Stewart Calder’s Renault Clio and they were three abreast going for the line. Soper eclipsed Harvey by just 0.025 seconds, about 6 inches and took the race win by the narrowest ever LMA margin. With the demise of Class B front runner Challis, Richard Hawken and Ilsa Cox were left to fight for the Class B win, Hawken eventually triumphing by just one second although he was never headed by Cox. Kevin Wendt was unable to take part in the race leaving Nick Hayes to earn enough points to seal his Class C Championship win, but Hayes could get nowhere near Class C race winner Mark Cripps. Ian Craig drove a steady race a little behind Cripps to take the Class D win while David Pierce took his second consecutive Class E win by 10 seconds from Jason Tarling. All class champions except for Class C had already been decided prior to this race, Nick Hayes taking the title by virtue of still having his joker (double points) to play. As expected, Renault have won the MSE-Performance.com cup for manufacturers with a huge margin of 938 points to 514 from Ford with Seat back in 3rd place on 476. Race Result: Winner: 1st Tony Soper (Harrier LR9), 2nd Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza), 3rd Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth), 4th Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), 5th Gary Furst (Mitsubishi Evo), 6th Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera) Class Winners: Class A Soper, Class B Hawken, Class C Mark Cripps (BMW M3), Class D Ian Craig (BMW M3), Class E David Pierce (Renault Clio) Fastest lap: Tony Soper (Harrier LR9) 1:12.574 (96.82mph) – new lap record
Round 8: Lydden Hill 3 October 2009 Kevin Wendt takes first LMA overall win Class wins for David Pierce, Yaser Almaghribi and Robin Deaney Round eight of the 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship took place at Lydden Hill. Qualifying: An early morning start for the LMA drivers, and a morning shower before qualifying meant uncertainty over tyre choice. Some chose slicks (which proved to be the optimum choice), some wets and some even mixed them. It was slick-shod Nick Hayes (Seat Cupra) who came out on pole from Class C competitor Kevin Wendt (BMW M3). About 3 seconds back came the Class E pole sitter Jason Tarling (Renault Clio) who narrowly eclipsed Class D pole Yaser Almaghribi (Daihatsu Charade). David Pierce (Renault Clio) was next up on his return from a cycling accident followed closely by the Class B pole Robin Deaney (Ford Sierra). Nick Hayes got away first from the start closely followed by Kevin Wendt and Jason Tarling. David Pierce and Robin Deaney touched sending Pierce’s Clio into a spin which then resulted in a bigger collision between the pair. They were able to resume racing a long way back with Deaney’s Sierra suffering steering damage. Deaney would limp around slowly to the finish to take his first class win in Class B. Two seconds down after 2 laps, Wendt started to pull back on Hayes at the front. Third place Tarling was losing ground at around 2 seconds a lap to the leading pair and while Almaghribi was lapping at Tarling’s pace, he too had been delayed in the first lap incident. Pierce was charging hard and caught up with Almaghribi on lap 6 while Wendt now had the gap to Hayes down to ¾ second. Two laps later, Wendt and Hayes crossed the start-finish line side by side, Wendt just shading Hayes to take the lead. Wendt was now in control and slowly edging away from Hayes, going on to win the race by 3 seconds and take his first LMA overall win. Pierce was on a charge chasing down Tarling in their Renault Clios. A 10 second gap on lap 6 became 6 seconds by lap 10, 3 seconds by lap 12 and Pierce passed Tarling for 3rd place overall and the Class E lead on lap 14 before slowly pulling away to beat Tarling by 16 seconds. Almaghribi was a few seconds further back as he took his second class win of the season to confirm his Class D champion titile. The 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car championship, Class E and the Mark Fish Motorsport Clio Cup Challenge have already fallen to Brett Walter. Andy Harvey is the Class A champion, Peter Challis the Class B and the DKMLabour.com Touring Car Challenge champion. Class C is still to be decided between Wendt and Hayes at the final round later this month. Renault extended their lead n the MSE-Performance.com cup for manufacturers with 860 points while the battle for second place is between Ford (446) and Seat (430). Race Result:
Class Winners: Class B Deaney, Class C Hayes, Class D Almaghribi, Class E Pierce Fastest lap: Kevin Wendt (BMW M3) 45.800 (78.60mph)
Round 7: Oulton Park 12 September 2009 First ever LMA win for Ilsa Cox Class wins for Tim Evans, Ilsa Cox, Nick Hayes, Ian Craig and Brett Walter Brett Walter is confirmed as 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car champion with two rounds remaining
Qualifying: Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus) was the star of qualifying placing his Class C car on pole by 1.2 seconds from the nearest competitor, the Class A Mitsubishi Evo of Simon Deaton. Gary Furst (Mitsubishi Evo) was third on the grid, another second further back with the two Class B Seat Leon Cupras of Ilsa Cox and Andrew Morrison taking 4th and 5th places though Cox was almost 1.5 seconds faster than Morrison. Championship leader Brett Walter again qualified his Renault Clio on the Class E pole, but was also up in 8th place overall, 6 places and 3.5 seconds clear of second in Class E, Stewart Calder. Ian Craig (BMW M3) narrowly beat Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo) to the Class D pole and 10th overall. Late in qualifying, Tim Evans broke a driveshaft on his Subaru Impreza. A call to Scooby Clinic (preparers of his and Andy Harvey’s car) resulted in the team arriving at the circuit and repairing the car with just minutes to spare before the race.
An amazing first lap from Joss Ronchetti saw him cross the line a full six seconds clear of second placed Ilsa Cox, Cox in turn being over a second clear of the Class A heavyweights Simon Deaton, Tim Evans, Gary Furst and Charlie Jackson (Ford Escort Cosworth). On lap 2 Deaton pulled into the pits and out of the race as Ronchetti eked out another 0.6 seconds from Cox. Three laps in and the returning Simon Jackson (MG ZR) suffered a major engine blow up leaving a hole in his block and an oil slick on the entry to the chicane. Luckily no-one went off although lap times slowed for a while. Up front, Ronchetti was holding his lead around the 6 to 7 seconds mark, but was lapping 5 or 6 seconds slower than his qualifying pace. Morrison was moving forwards, up into 4th place by lap 5, while Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza) who had started from the back of the grid was just 5/1000ths behind him and would take over 4th place just past the line. Harvey was now chasing after third place Tim Evans and lapping up to 2 seconds quicker while in pursuit, finally closing up on lap 10. But the big news on lap 10 was Ronchetti pulling into the pits with differential problems and letting Isla Cox turn a 5 second deficit the previous lap into a 3 second lead over the battling Subarus of Evans and Harvey. With just one lap to go, Cox extended her lead to take her first LMA race win by 3.7 seconds from Evans who just held off Harvey to take his first class win of the season, good reward for the sterling work put in by Scooby Clinic to get him into the race. Brett Walter had a comfortable win in Class E, but Jim Mepham (Renault Megane) and Matt Walton (Renault Clio) were trading places in the fight for second in class, Mepham eventually triumphing by less than a quarter of a second! With Ronchetti’s demise, Nick Hayes (Seat Leon) took his third consecutive Class C win, while Ian Craig had an easy Class D win once his main competitor Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo) pulled out on lap 3. With two rounds still to go, and Peter Challis not competing at Oulton Park, Brett Walter’s points total of 250 cannot be caught so he is the 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car champion. Walter has also amassed an unassailable lead (232 to 132) in the Mark Fish Motorsport Clio Cup Challenge which he also wins for 2009. And finally, Renault look uncatchable in the MSE-Performance.com cup for manufacturers with 814 points to second placed Ford on 418 and third placed Seat on 416. Race Result:
Class Winners: Class A Evans, Class B Cox, Class C Hayes, Class D Ian Craig (BMW M3), Class E Brett Walter Fastest lap: Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza) 1:52.046 (86.49mph)
Round 6: Brands Hatch 15/16 August 2009 Race Report Double race win for Peter Challis who seals DKMLabour.com Super Touring Car Cup title Class wins for Andy Harvey (x2), Nick Hayes (x2), Gary Whitehead (x2), Joe Walton and Brett Walter Brett Walter still leads the championship, but Peter Challis closes up in second place Round six of the 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship took place over the weekend with qualifying and race one on Saturday, the second race on Sunday. Qualifying: Star of qualifying was Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera) with his first ever LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Cars pole position by over half a second from Colin Davids (Noble M400) who was a late replacement driver for Mal Davison who had been taken ill. Peter Challis was looking to close out the DKMLabour.com Super Touring Cup and was 3rd in qualifying with Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza) and Simon Deaton (Mitsubishi Evo) close behind. In Class C, Mark Cripps (BMW M3) narrowly held off Nick Hayes (Seat Leon), while the Class D pole sitter Gary Whitehead (BMW M3) was ahead of both of them, up in 9th place overall. Championship leader Brett Walter (Renault Clio) was first in Class E but Joe Walton (Renault Clio) was only narrowly beaten into 2nd. Colin Davids made the best start in Mal Davison’s Noble as both he and Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza) used Class A turbo power to push past the Class B Nissan Primera’s of Richard Hawken and Peter Challis. Two laps in and Davids had a lead of 1.5 seconds over Harvey before Harvey started to reel off some faster laps. The gap was closed to just 2/10ths by the end of lap 4 and Harvey got past Davids on lap 5 while at the same time pulling Hawken and Challis along so they too were closing in on Davids. As Harvey started to pull out a small lead, Hawken and Challis moved up past Davids on lap 8. Challis set the then fastest lap of the race on lap 9 to get past Hawken and on lap 10 moved past Harvey to take the lead. Once out front, Challis strung together a number of 51s laps to pull away from Harvey, eventually taking the chequered flag with a 12 second gap back to 2nd place. Hawken was 3rd, 3 seconds further back, while Davids just held onto 4th place from a hard charging Simon Deaton, one more lap and surely Deaton would have taken 4th place. Three laps before the finish, Bernard Hogarth went off hard at Paddock in his Ford Mondeo hitting the wall at an estimated 80mph. He was later heard to be praising the HANS device for saving his from possible injury in this very big accident. Newcomer Gary Whitehead (Class D BMW M3) was running in close formation with the Class B cars of John Hammersley (Honda Accord) and Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon), just narrowly losing out to them but taking a comfortable Class D win and 10th overall. In Class C, Nick Hayes got a better start than Mark Cripps, the two ran together for 11 laps before Cripps hit the wall hard at Druids, ending his race and badly damaging his BMW M3. In Class E Brett Walter suffered a rare defeat, Joe Walton got by on lap 2 and was able to hold off Walter gradually pulling away to take the class win by 4 seconds.
Race 2 (Sunday): Six cars from Saturday failed to make the grid on Sunday, although the surprise inclusion was Mark Cripps, his team having done sterling work to repair the BMW M3 overnight. Challis, Harvey and Deaton occupied the first three positions on the grid and it looked liked this would be the finishing order as they maintained these positions for the first 20 laps of the race, with Challis pulling away at over half a second a lap, while Harvey was only able to eke out a smaller gap over Deaton. But Gary Furst (Mitsubishi Evo) who had been running as low as 8th for the first couple of laps was moving up and started to close in on Deaton. With just two laps to go, Furst got by Deaton to take the final podium position. Class D winner was Gary Whitehead who had been running as high as 4th overall and finished a very creditable 5th, just holding off Class B 2nd place driver Ilsa Cox. Mark Cripps started from the back of the grid and looked to be taking a few laps to build up confidence in the repairs to his BMW before getting faster later in the race. It was not enough to prevent Nick Hayes from taking his second class win of the weekend. All change in Class E though, Brett Walter was able to get the better of Mark Walton in their Renault Clios. Brett Walter still leads the championship with 230 points but double winner Peter Challis played his joker in race 1 for double points and now moves into second place with 194 points to Andy Harvey’s 192 points in third. Take away the two dropped scores though, and there are just two points between Walter and Challis which could make for an exciting last three rounds. Walter looks unassailable in the Mark Fish Motorsport Clio Cup challenge with a lead of 212 points to second placed Jason Tarling’s 116 points, while Renault now have a massive lead (720 points to 404) over Ford in the MSE-Performance.com Manufacturer’s Cup. The DKMLabour.com Super Touring Cup is only played out over the double header rounds, so Peter Challis has won the cup with a perfect score of 160 points (8 wins out of 8), with John Hammersley 2nd (110) and Bernard Hogarth 3rd (88) Race 1 Result: Winner: Peter Challis (Nissan Primera), 2nd Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza), 3rd Ricahrd Hawken (Nissan Primera), 4th Colin Davids (Noble M400), 5th Simon Deaton (Mitsubishi Evo), 6th Keith Butcher (Nissan Primera), 7th Gary Furst (Mitsubishi Evo), 8th John Hammersley (Honda Accord) Class Winners: Class A Harvey, Class B Challis, Class C Nick Hayes (Seat Leon), Class D Gary Whitehead (BMW M3), Class E Joe Walton (Renault Clio) Fastest lap: Challis 51.403 (83.94mph) Race 2 Result: Winner: Peter Challis (Nissan Primera), 2nd Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza), 3rd Gary Furst (Mitsubishi Evo), 4th Simon Deaton (Mitsubishi Evo), 5th Gary Whitehead (BMW M3), 6th Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon), 7th John Hammersley (Honda Accord), 8th Nick Hayes (Seat Leon) Class Winners: Class A Harvey, Class B Challis, Class C Hayes, Class D Whitehead, Class E Brett Walter (Renault Clio) Fastest lap: Peter Challis 51.801 (83.30mph)
Round 5: Rockingham 18 July 2009 Race Report Tony Soper takes first win of 2009 after Simon Blanckley is disqualified Class wins for Soper, Ilsa Cox, Joss Ronchetti and Brett Walter Brett Walter extends his championship lead, Andy Harvey now moves up into second place
Round five of the 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship took place in cool, windy conditions, but the rain stayed away. Qualifying: Angus Dawe was the early pacesetter in qualifying, setting the fastest first lap and lowering the mark to 1:31.424 on lap 2 in his Class C BMW M3 while others were still getting into the groove. Dawe pitted on lap 3 and despite a lengthy stop, was unable to improve on his early laps. Andy Harvey (Class A Subaru Impreza) was next to take up the cudgels lowering the pole time to 1:30.644 and then 1:29.365 on the third and fourth laps. Joss Ronchetti (Class C Talbot Sunbeam Lotus) eclipsed this almost immediately with 1:28.971 while Simon Blanckley (Class B Seat Leon) and Tony Soper (Harrier LR9) were getting closer and closer to the pole time. Blanckley set the final pole time on lap 5 with 1:27.850 but Soper looked to be on a fast final lap before coming up behind traffic late in the lap leaving the front two rows as Blanckley, Soper, Ronchetti and Harvey. Championship leader Brett Walter (Renault Clio) was fastest in Class E and 8th overall. The first lap packed in more excitement than all the previous races together. Blanckley and Soper got a poor start from the front row, Ronchetti went inside the front pair while Andy Harvey went outside, leaving them 4 abreast coming into turn 1. Harvey won the race down to the hairpin at Deene and amazingly all cars got through unscathed. Angus Dawe was on the move, from 7th on the grid he moved up to 3rd (behind Harvey and Soper) passing Blanckley and Ronchetti along the school straight before disaster struck. Going into the chicane at the end of School Straight, Blanckley tapped Dawe into a spin leaving Dawe’s BMW beached to the side of the track. Ronchetti was caught in the melee and came to a halt with nowhere to go and fell back to 9th. Harvey and Soper crossed the line 1 second apart with Blanckley a further 5 seconds behind, from Simon Deaton and Gary Furst (both Mitusbishi Evo) next up. Dawe’s car was in a dangerous position so the safety car was brought out and the circuit placed under full course yellow in anticipation. Leader Harvey caught the safety car at the start of lap 3 and although Dawe’s care seemed to be clear by then, the safety car continued round for 2 laps before the race went green again on lap 5. With all cars bunched up again, Harvey just held off Soper and Blanckley going into Deene and looked to be in control until he went into the final chicane too hard allowing Soper and Blanckley to move past him. Soper’s lead was shortlived, within a lap Blanckley’s Seat had got the better of Soper’s less wieldy Harrier on the infield section. Ronchetti was moving back up the field, up into 5th within a lap of the restart and separating the 2 Mitsubishi Evos before moving up into 4th on lap 7. Blanckley had a 2 second lead from Soper at this point with Harvey a second further back and Ronchetti 3 seconds behind Harvey, but Harvey was now struggling to maintain his early pace. Soper had visions of his first LMA Euro Saloons victory since 2005 and was gaining on Blanckley, especially around the outer oval section. Setting the two fastest laps of the race on laps 9 and 10, Soper brought the gap down to less than a second. Using his pace round the baking, Soper drew alongside Blanckley as they braked for Deene but Blanckley managed to exit the corner still in front and defended the line into Deene for the last two laps, finally crossing the finish line just 0.367 seconds in front of Soper. However, after the race Simon Blanckley was disqualified for “an avoidable race incident” (with Dawe) handing the win to Tony Soper. Another excursion off at the final chicane saw Harvey drop behind Ronchetti on lap 11, the pace of the leaders had taken then 15 seconds clear of the 3rd place battle. Brett Walter maintained his winning streak in Class E winning by 5 seconds from Matt Walton. Race Result:
Class Winners: Class A Soper, Class B Cox, Class C Ronchetti, Class E Brett Walter (Renault Clio) Fastest lap: Tony Soper 1:27.583 (79.74mph)
Round 4 Silverstone 27/28 June 2009 Race wins for Laurence Kilby and Benji Hetherington Class wins for Andy Harvey, Peter Challis (x2), Kevin Wendt (x2), Ian Craig, Yaser Almaghrbi and Brett Walter (x2) Brett Walter still leads the championship, but Kevin Wendt’s joker moves him up into second place
Round four of the 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship took place on what was the hottest weekend of 2009 to date. Qualifying: Laurence Kilby was the talk of qualifying setting the first ever sub-minute lap for the LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car championship with a 59.632s lap, fully 1.3 seconds below the outright LMA lap record and almost 2.3 seconds clear of the next driver. Benji Hetherington was up next guesting in a Ginetta G50 similar to those which race on the TOCA package followed by 10 cars separated by just 1.3 seconds. Peter Challis (Nissan Primera) was 3rd overall and headed Class B in this round which qualified for the DKMLabour.com Super Touring Cup with Class A Mal Davison (Noble M400) 4th, then the Class B Super Tourers of David Jarman (Nissan Primera) and Derek Hale (Honda Accord). Class C was closely contested with 3 of the 4 protagonists qualifying together in 20th-22nd with Kevin Wendt (BMW M3) just getting the better of Olly Allen (Ford Escort Mk II), Nick Hayes’ Seat Leon right behind them. Ian Craig (BMW M3) led Class D while championship leader Brett Walker (Renault Clio) was over a second clear of his nearest competitor Joe Walton (Renault Clio). The gasps of the crowd said it all! While Kilby’s qualifying lap was sensational, it wasn’t obvious on the track how much quicker he had been than the others. The crowd based up at Woodcote were audibly stunned when Kilby’s Mitsubishi Evo came into sight with nothing following – he crossed the line at the end of lap one already FOUR seconds ahead of second place Hetherington (Ginetta G50) with Challis (Nissan Primera), Derek Hale (Honda Accord) and Mal Davison (Noble M400) taking the next places and another second further back. By lap two the lead was 6.3 seconds, by lap 3 it was 8.4 and by lap 4 with a 10 second plus lead, the race was effectively over. Kilby was already lapping the back of the pack by the end of lap 4, but despite busy laps from that point on, his pace was relentless. On lap 18 he recorded 60.840 to set a new official lap record and only slowed on the final lap to win from Hetherington by over 30 seconds with 10 lapped cars between and all cars from 7th backwards had been lapped. Davison’s challenge lasted just four laps, coming onto Luffield on lap 5 his Noble and Challis’ Nissan touched leaving the Noble spinning and blocking the track. Tony Soper (Harrier) went left and just as he looked to have avoided any trouble, the Harrier spun on the grass relegating him to 20th – Davison had recovered to end lap 5 in 9th place but would be forced to retire on lap 12. Worse was to befall Derek Hale who in avoiding Davison found his Honda beached in the gravel on the outside of Luffield, his race over. With 34 cars having started the race, it was hard to know where to look – do you watch Kilby blasting around at the front, watch the battle for 3rd place between Challis and Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza), or further down the pack with Jasons Newman (Peugoet 306) and Tarling (Renault Clio) swapping places over and again as they squabbled over what finished as 21st place? Or did you watch the front three Class C rivals; the first lap ended with Hayes leading Allen and Wendt two places behind. On lap 4 Wendt had caught and passed Allen but Hayes still led the class by 3.5 seconds. Wendt was chasing down hard and moved into the class lead on lap 6 after which point the gaps between the three slowly stretched out so joker-playing Wendt won from Hayes by 19 seconds with Allen 14 seconds further back – it never seemed that far while watching. Ian Craig took a comfortable win in the Class D BMW M3 from Yaser Almaghrbi (Daihatsu Charade), the latter only just locating replacement brake pads in time for the race. Brett Walter played his joker in Class E and justified his confidence by winning the class by 8 seconds from Joe Walton. The heat unsurprisingly meant a high number of retirements – 11 in all including Simon Deaton whose Mitsubishi Evo gave conflicting fuel level information so Deaton droned around slowly in the hope of finishing, Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) who suffered timing sensor failure possibly caused by losing the alternator belt in qualifying, and Mark Harrison (Mitsubishi Evo) who retired after the 20 minute mark but before the winner had crossed the line. Race 2 (Sunday): Race two looked like being more of the same; Kilby got a flying start and led by almost 3 seconds after the first lap, but this time from Harvey and Challis who had both got past Hetherington. Again Kilby was pulling away by 3 seconds per lap, but on lap four Hetherington got by Challis after 3 laps of them being nose-to-tail, if not side-by-side, and just 0.75 secs behind second placed Harvey – Kilby was already 12 seconds clear beating his own new lap record on lap 2. A high number of non-finishers in race one occupied grid places at the back so the drama was in watching then cutting through the slower cars. Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) and Derek Hale (Honda Accord) were making best progress, but Mal Davison’s Noble was struggling to run even at Class E pace, the turbochargers not supplying more than 0.5 bar boost in the opening laps. Gradually the Noble started to work again and Davison laboured through the pack up into 15th place, well off his normal pace. Kilby continued to attack, setting another new lap record (60.641) on lap 14, almost beating it again on lap 15 (60.717) by which time he was 19 seconds clear of Hetherington in second place, with Harvey third and 1.5 seconds ahead of Challis. It all went wrong on lap 16 as Kilby’s Mitsubishi started to sound flat and was visibly slower than before. A lap of 68 seconds let Hetherington move to 13 seconds behind, the following lap he had closed up and followed Kilby across the line just 5/100ths behind, passing him on the entry to Copse and off on his way to win the race. Next up were Harvey and Challis who started the final lap 0.8 seconds apart and about the same behind Kilby. They got by quickly enough, but the drama still wasn’t over as they came round Luffield and Brooklands together. Challis looked like he might catch Harvey in the sprint to the finish line, but one of the Clios was trying to stay out of the way on the inside, Harvey cleverly ensued Challis had nowhere to go and crossed the line 1/10th ahead of Challis with the lapped Clio finishing between them. More pain for Kilby as David Jarman also caught him on the final lap, relegating Kilby to 5th. Ellwood and Hale were rewarded for strong drives from the back finishing 6th and 7th, 3rd and 2nd in classes A and B respectively. Kevin Wendt recorded his second class C win of the day but had to work hard for it as he fell behind Olly Allen on lap 3 and took an further 5 laps to catch and repass. Nick Hayes was unable to reproduce his Saturday form and finished 3rd in class 9 seconds behind Allen. Yaser Almaghrbi recorded his first ever LMA Class win in Class D while Brett Walter continued his winning streak in Class E finishing 17 seconds ahead of 2nd placed Antony Sullivan (Renault Clio). Chris Boon got lucky retiring his Honda Civic on the last lap with a puncture only to cross the finish line in the pit lane thus scoring the points after all.
Race 1 Result: Winner: Laurence Kilby (Mitsubishi Evo), 2nd Benji Hetherington (Ginetta G50), 3rd Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza), 4th Peter Challis (Nissan Primera), 5th David Jarman (Nissan Primera), 6th Simon Blanckley (Seat Leon), 7th Keith Butcher (Nissan Primera), 8th John Hammersley (Honda Accord)
Race 2 Result: Winner: Benji Hetherington (Ginetta G50), 2nd Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza), 3rd Peter Challis (Nissan Primera), 4th David Jarman (Nissan Primera), 5th Laurence Kilby (Mitsubishi Evo), 6th Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis), 7th Derek Hale (Honda Accord), 8th Tony Soper (Harrier LR9)
Round 3: Donington Park 6 June 2009 Race Report Race wins for Simon Deaton and Andy Harvey Class wins for Peter Challis (x2), Angus Dawe, Joss Ronchetti, Lee Reynolds (x2), Andy Neal and Brett Walter Brett Walter still leads the championship, but Andy Harvey and Peter Challis now move into contention Round three of the 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship, and a late decision to run both races on the Saturday proved a blessing in disguise – heavy rain caused the Sunday programme to be abandoned! Qualifying: Very wet conditions and almost half the session lost to a red flag incident meant that only a handful of the 36 competitors managed 5 flying laps during the session, the majority had to make do with less. With conditions expected to favour the Class A for wheel drive cars, the surprise was that pole sitter was Olly Allen (Class C) in a rear wheel drive Ford Escort Mk II looking more akin to a rally car than race car, it was sideways that often. The four wheel drive Mitsubishi Evo and Ford Escort Cosworth of Simon Deaton and Dave Cockell were the nearest to Allen’s time with just 3/10s separating the three of them. The lower class cars were having a good time in the wet, only 4 Class A cars (all 4wd) made the top 10, and one of those was 10th. Class B pole man was Simon Blanckley (Seat Leon) in 4th with next Class B driver Peter Challis (Nissan Primera) back in 9th, over a second behind Blanckley. Class C provided three of the top nine, with Allen on pole, then Andy Robinson (Peugeot 306) in 5th and Angus Dawe (BMW M3) in 7th. The final top ten place went to the Class E pole and Andy Neal (Honda Integra) in his first race of the season, and almost 3 seconds clear of the second placed Class E driver, Joe Walton, back in 18th. On a drying, but very damp track, Simon Deaton got the better of Olly Allen from the start and launched into a lead he would keep to the flag. Allen held on gamely for a couple of laps before Andy Harvey (Subaru Impreza) and Angus Dawe made their way past and up into 2nd and 3rd places. Peter Challis was also on the move, starting off in 9th but up to 4th by lap 4. Four laps in, Class A cars in 1st and 2nd, but Class C and B leaders were 3rd and 4th. The Class D leader Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo) was running back in 23rd while Class E leader Andy Neal had fallen back from 8th to 11th. On lap 7 Jason Newman lost the gear linkage in his Peugeot 306, and after heading for the infield gravel trap, came to rest on the apex of Old Hairpin. It took another lap or so before the safety car was deployed so Newman’s car could be retrieved which had the effect of bunching up the drivers. Deaton’s lead over Harvey dropped from 7 seconds to half a second as the drivers followed the safety car for three laps, before being allowed one flying lap to complete the race. Deaton set his fastest lap of the race on that final lap to win from Harvey by 1.6 seconds. Angus Dawe had been running 4th before the safety car incident, but got the drop on 3rd placed Peter Challis at the restart. The pair were nose to tail around the circuit but Challis just couldn’t find a way past and Dawe held on for 3rd place by 15/100ths and took the Class C win while Challis was rewarded with his 3rd Class B win from 3 races this year. Andy Neal had been well clear of his nearest Class E competitor so finished some 5 places ahead of second in Class Matt Walton (Renault Clio) after the sprint lap to the finish while Class D was easily won by Lee Reynolds. Race 2: Grid positions for race 2 were in race 1 finishing order, so Simon Deaton on pole from Andy Harvey. The track was now dry so all drivers were looking forwards to a good race. Chaos at the start, the front few rows were nicely bunched up but as Andy Robinson came through the chicane, he spun before the start and three other cars were caught up in the incident. Cars further back were held up and came through to the start in dribs and drabs – surprisingly the start was not aborted so 4 cars lost already. The 5th was lost at the first corner, pole sitter Deaton failed to stop in time and beached his Mitsubishi in the gravel trap giving Andy Harvey a clear run into the lead. Angus Dawe could only hold off Peter Challis for the first lap before the Super Tourer Primera got by and went off in chase of Harvey who had built up a 2 second lead in two laps. This was down to 4/10ths by lap 3, after that Harvey and Challis were running within half a second all the way to the end, Harvey winning by ¼ second. Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Lotus Sunbeam) moved from 7th to 3rd within 4 laps and was running within a second or so of the leaders’ pace. Only in the final laps did Ronchetti fall back, eventually finishing 3rd, 15 seconds behind Harvey despite setting his fastest lap on the final lap. All three lapped in the 1:15s, fully 3 seconds faster than the outright LMA Euro Sports Car & Saloons lap record, all now hold the lap record in their respective classes. Despite race 2 being the “dry” race, it was a race of attrition with only 22 of the 35 starters completing the race. Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera) had a puncture, Jim Mepham (Renault Megane) went off-field and almost fell into a mud bath causing him to retire due to no visibility (the whole car was covered in mud including the screen), Danny Winstanley was unfortunate to retire on the final lap in his new to the series Mazda RX7. Championship leader Brett Walter found his form in the dry to take the Class E win beating race 1 winner Andy Neal by 4 seconds. Lee Reynolds took his second Class D win of the day finishing 17th overall. Brett Walter still leads the championship with 100 points, but a win and a joker-playing second place move Andy Harvey up into second place on 94 points, two wins bring Peter Challis into 3rd place with 86. Brett Walter also leads the Mark Fish Clio Cup on 98 points from Antony Sullivan (68) and Jason Tarling (44). Renault lead the MSE-Performance.com cup for manufacturers with 352 points but a good points haul from Ford (320) mean the gap has been closed. Subaru remain in 3rd place on 230. Peter Challis has a perfect record within the new Super Touring Car Cup and leads with 80 points from 4 races from Bernard Hogarth (68) and John Hammersley (60). Race 1 Result:
Class Winners: Class A Deaton, Class B Challis, Class C Dawe, Class D Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo), Class E Andy Neal (Honda integra) Fastest lap: Dave Cockell 1:25.576 (82.34mph)
Race 2 Result:
Class Winners: Class A Harvey, Class B Challis, Class C Ronchetti, Class D Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo), Class E Brett Walter (Renault Clio) Fastest lap: Peter Challis 1:15.434 (93.41mph) – new lap record
Round 2: Castle Combe 4 May 2009 Race Report Race win for Mark Funnell Class wins for Ilsa Cox, Olly Allen, Ian Craig and Jim Mepham Brett Walter extends championship, but Olly Allen, Kevin Wendt and Ilsa Cox are within 8 points of lead
Round two of the 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship, and a Bank Holiday return to Castle Combe, and typically of Bank Holiday weather, it was cloudy, cold and windy with rain looking a possibility. Qualifying: A few spots of rain shortly before qualifying seemed to rob the track of grip, or certainly rob some drivers of confidence. Mark Funnell (Lotus Exige) had unfinished business from last year, 32 seconds ahead after 5 laps only to lose the alternator belt, and it was Funnell setting the pace with a sub-lap record time of 1:09.500 on his first of 4 qualifying laps. This was an amazing 4.7 seconds clear of second placed Mark Harrison (Mitsubishi Evo), but Ilsa Cox (heading Class B in her Seat Leon Cupra) was just 5/100ths behind Harrison, Richard Gould’s Noble less than 2/1oths behind Harrison. The class C pole went to Nick Hayes (Seat Leon) in 9th overall, and 7/10ths clear of 2nd in class Olly Allen (Ford Escort). Ian Craig (BMW M3) was looking comfortable in Class D sitting 12th overall and well clear of his competitors Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo) and Simon Beament (Ford Escort RS). Class E was well represented with 5 Renault Clios, but the other clars in the class were proving a problem for them. Jim Mepham’s pace in his Renault Megane easily eclipsed the rest of Class E and was just 1/10th shy of Craig’s Class D BMW M3. Jason Newman qualified his Peugeot 306 third in class ahead, beaten by Brett Walter in his current model Clio, but beating all the old-shape Clios, while Chris Boon’s Honda Civic split the remaining 4 Clios. Race : Despite no improvement in the weather, the rain held off and a dry race ensued. As expected, Mark Funnell got away at the start and simply drove off into the distance, pulling a gap of 3-4 seconds each lap on the battle for second place. Mark Harrison (Mitsubishi Evo) gave early chase, but slowly Richard Gould (Noble M12) moved up to second place even though completely out of contention for a win. Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) took up the battle for 2nd place and was running within a second or two of Gould for lap after lap, the gap moving backwards and forwards as they started lapping the back markers. Up front, it was a one horse race as Funnell smashed the LMA Euro Saloons and Sports Car lap record (which he set last year) by over a second at 1:09.000 on his way to winning the race by 25 seconds from Gould. Ellwood’s challenge for 2nd place ended less than 2 laps from the finish as his Marcos expired on track. Tony Soper had got off to a slow start but as the race went on, he was getting faster and moving slowly towards the front group, finally finishing in 4th place, almost a minute behind the leader and 15 seconds adrift of Class B winner Ilsa Cox. Cox may have been the solitary Class B entry, but she still set a new lap record for the class at 1:13.106. Andy Harvey was up next in 5th, but a race long battle for 5th between Simon Deaton (Mitsubishi Evo 8) and Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth) ended on the final lap as they touched on the exit from Quarry, Cockell spun to the infield while damage to the front of the Mitsubishi left Deaton unable to finish the race distance. Nick Hayes (Seat Leon) made the early running in Class C but alas retired after 3 laps leaving Olly Allen to take a comfortable class win and finish 6th overall, with Kevin Wendt (BMW M3) second in class some 20 seconds further back. Ian Craig was always looking good for the Class D win, but his commitment through Camp Corner with the inside front wheel airborne every time showed no let up in his desire. In Class E, both Jim Mepham (Renault Megane) and Jason Newman (Peugeot 306) were feeling confident and both played their jokers for double points. Mepham got off to a flying start making up a number of places on the first lap and punching well above his weight on his way to beating all but one of the Class C cars and all the Class D cars, finishing 8th overall. Unfortunately he lost 4 potential points being beaten to fastest Class E lap which narrowly went to championship leader Brett Walter. Jason Newman also had an excellent start, unlike Brett Walter who had a first lap spin and was looking good for a second in class as a reward. After the midpoint of the race, Chris Boon (Honda Civic) started to push Newman, but then on lap 13 suddenly Newman was gone, a broken driveshaft ending a valiant performance. His reward was Driver of the Day (and a bottle of champagne kindly donated by Ian Craig from last year’s awards dinner raffle). Just two rounds in, and no-one has a 100% win record, Brett Walter is nearest and heads the table on 64 points from Olly Allen (60), Kevin Wendt (58) and Ilsa Cox (56). Brett Walter also leads the Mark Fish Clio Cup on 60 points from Antony Sullivan (52) and Joe Walton (34). Renault now lead the MSE-Performance.com cup for manufacturers leading Ford by 222 points to 170 after a massive 96 point haul, with Subaru in 3rd place on 110. The new Super Touring Car Cup is headed by Peter Challis (40) from Richard Hawken (36) and John Hammersley (32). Race Result:
Class Winners: Class A Funnell, Class B Cox, Class C Allen, Class D Ian Craig (BMW M3), Class E Mepham Fastest lap: Mark Funnell 1:09.000 (92.21mph) – new lap record
Round 1: Anglesey 4/5 April 2009 Race Report Race wins for Peter Challis and Richard Gould Class wins for Challis (2), Gould, Andy Harvey, Olly Allen, Kevin Wendt and Brett Walter (x2) Challis and Walter are early championship leaders The first round of the 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship was a double header round at Anglesey, with a twist. Saturday would use the Coastal circuit (a first for the LMA) while Sunday would revert to the more familiar (and longer) International circuit. Early worries about the likelihood of rain so early in the year proved unfounded as the weather remained dry for the whole weekend. 24 drivers were ready to roll, a number of established drivers just didn’t get their cars finished from winter rebuilds and refreshes. Encouragingly, 9 drivers were new to the LMA series, proof that the success built up over the past couple of years is creating lots of interest. Qualifying – Saturday: The two Nobles of Mal Davison and Richard Gould were expected to figure near the front, and indeed Davison’s final lap in the extended qualifying session earned him pole position by ¾ second from Class B poleman Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera). Gould had to sit out qualifying, head gasket woes could not be repaired in time despite an all night session by his team. Also near the front were Andy Harvey (class A Subaru Impreza), Peter Challis (class B Nissan Primera), Doug Ellwood (class A Marcos Mantis) and Dave Cockell (class A Ford Escort Cosworth), all looking to ensure Davison and Hawken had some competition. The class C pole went to Olly Allen (Ford Escort), the reigning Ford champion but Bradley Gelman (Ford Sierra Cosworth) and Kevin Wendt (BMW M3) were close behind. Class D had a disappointing single car turnout, the Vauxhall Vectra of Mike Hurst – last year there were seven Vectras in the corresponding race. With the Renault Clio Cup cars now running in Class E, 4 Clios entered along with the Peugeot 306 of Jason Newman. Fastest Clio in practice was Brett Walter by over half a second from Joe Walton. Race – Saturday: Richard Gould was able to start the race from the back of the grid in his Noble, with Davison on pole that was a Noble at each end of the grid. Davison got off to a good start and looked to have the race in the bag as he pulled clear of second placed Andy Harvey, with Peter Challis heading Class B and running close behind Harvey. Harvey had a 2 second lead after 2 laps, but after this Challis started to draw him in, finally overtaking Harvey on lap 9. After this Challis started to pull away from Harvey and set about chasing Davison up front. Drama on lap 11, Davison’s Noble caught fire. Davison pulled to the side of the track but was unable to reach a marshal post, the marshal having to run along with the fire extinguisher. This incident caused the race to be red flagged and results taken at the end of lap 10. Unfortunately, as the “cause” of the red flag, Davison was excluded from the results and denied the race win. More unfortunately, Davison had played his joker (for double points) and this was now wasted. The countback meant the race win fell to Challis, with the Class A win going to now 2nd place man Harvey. Richard Hawken had also played his joker after a good qualifying run, but Challis had passed Hawken on the second lap, so Hawken had to settle for 2nd in class, 1.6 seconds behind Challis and 0.7 seconds behind Harvey. Doug Ellwood was running a comfortable 4th with Dave Cockell a couple of seconds behind in 5th while John Hammersley (Honda Accord) was enjoying a race long battle with Bernard Hogarth (Ford Mondeo) which ended with Hammersley taking 6th place (and third in class B) by just 0.5 second. Richard Gould put in a storming drive to finish 8th from last place at the start. Olly Allen triumphed in Class C by 4 seconds from Bradley Gelman, but Kevin Wendt showed his intent by taking the fastest Class C lap on his way to third in class, barely a second behind Gelman with the Class A Subaru Impreza of Tim Evans splitting them at the finish. The sole Class D car (Mike Hurst) failed to finish while Brett Walter took the Class E win in his Renault Clio Cup some 6 seconds clear of Joe Walton. Last year’s Mark Fish Clio Cup Challenge winner David Pierce finished 2 seconds adrift of Walton suffering from gripless ageing tyres. Qualifying – Sunday: Davison was unable to repair the fire damaged Noble but Gould’s Noble was now in fine shape and stormed to pole position by almost two seconds from Saturday’s race winner Challis. Andy Harvey only ran 5 laps but was just 0.5 seconds adrift of Challis. Hawken, Hammersley and Hogarth made up the next three places giving the Class B Super Tourers 4 of the top six places and looking better adapted to the longer circuit than the Class A cars. Once again, Olly Allen took the Class C pole but both Wendt and Gelman were close by and just in front of the Clios of Walter and Walton. Mike Hurst again was sole Class D driver but looked to be slower than expected. Race - Sunday: Gould got the Noble away to make a good start from Challis and was 1.7 seconds ahead at the end of the first lap, but Challis started to close the gap. By lap 7 there was just 0.66 seconds in it, but on lap 8 Gould set the fastest lap of the race and extended his lead by another second. Challis hung in but slowed a couple of seconds a lap after breaking a rose joint over the harsh Anglesey kerbs. Gould finally took the flag from Challis by 6 seconds. Such was their pace that the next car along was 45 seconds behind Gould as Hammersley came through to take third place from a closely pursuing gaggle of cars – Simon Deaton (Subaru Impreza), Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon), Class C winner Kevin Wendt (BMW M3) and Dave Cockell (Ford Escort Cosworth). With four cars unable to finish, class E winner Brett Walter finished up in 12th overall, 14 seconds ahead of second in class Antony Sullivan (Renault Clio). Mike Hurst compounded a miserable weekend with another DNF completing just a single lap. Having started the season with 2 race wins and 2 fastest laps, Peter Challis and Brett Walker share the lead of the championship with 44 points apiece from Kevin Wendt (40), Olly Allen (38) and the Richards – Hawken and Gould (36). Brett Walter also leads the Mark Fish Clio Cup on 40 points from Joe Walton and Antony Sullivan (36). Ford got off to a flying start in the MSE-Performance.com cup for manufacturers leading Renault by 134 points to 126 with Subaru in 3rd place on 96. The new Super Touring Car Cup is headed by Peter Challis (40) from Richard Hawken (36) and John Hammersley (32). Race 1 Result:
Class Winners: Class A Harvey, Class B Challis, Class C Olly Allen (Ford Escort Mk II), Class E Brett Walter (Renault Clio) Fastest lap: Peter Challis 1:12.716 (76.73mph) Race 2 Result:
Class Winners: Class A Gould, Class B Challis, Class C Allen, Class E Brett Walter (Renault Clio) Fastest lap: Richard Gould 1:33.196 (81.11mph)
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Round seven of the 2009 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship took
place on the International circuit at Oulton Park.