The Grid.co.uk    the national & club motor racing website - est1998          

  ^News

SARAH MISSES OUT ON DRAMATIC CHAMPIONSHIP FINALE

Warwickshire's TFL Racing is celebrating a second-place championship finish in the VdeV Endurance sports car series after claiming another points-scoring result in Sunday’s final round at Silverstone.

But the squad was without star driver Sarah Reader after the Stratford-on-Avon racer developed an eve-of-race illness which prevented her from taking part. "Sarah was in pain during testing on Friday," said her father and TFL team manager Simon Reader, "and by Saturday night the infection had spread to her kidneys and she was virtually immobilised. There was no way she could race."

That left Sarah's regular driving partner, Ryan Hooker, stuck for a team-mate. Luckily one of Sarah's friends, former Caterham winner and LMP2 driver Simon Pullan, was able to deputise. "Fortunately Simon had tested our car at the beginning of the year and was familiar with it," said Simon Reader. "Luckily also the car was well set up after Friday's work at the circuit." Hooker and Pullan qualified the Juno SSE-CN ninth on the grid for the three-hour endurance event.

The TFL team needed to finish two places ahead of their rivals Graham Fennymore and Chris Bialan in the Piranha Racing-prepared Juno if they were to clinch championship victory, and things went Hooker's way in his opening stint when Bialan spun while trying to pass him for sixth.

When Fennymore took over driving duties from Bialan he wasted no time in making up the lost ground, however, and come the fall of the chequered flag their car was back up to fifth - just one place behind the Hooker/Pullan machine. "We ended the season tied on points with the Piranha team, but they win the championship on the tie break because they had two second-place finishes to our one," said Reader.

"Sarah was obviously distraught at not being able to take part in the final race when she had done so much to get us to the top spot. Our success in our first season was truly a complete team effort: two consistent and skilled drivers achieved excellent results in every race and the team ensured a consistent car with faultless reliability. Great pit stops gave us the edge over some formidable professional competition."

Sarah is well on the mend after her enforced track absence and is looking forward to doing some European endurance events before the year end.

SARAH ON TRACK FOR DRAMATIC TITLE FIGHT

Warwickshire racer Sarah Reader and her co-driver Ryan Hooker are heading for a dramatic final-round championship shoot-out next month after another strong result in the VdeV Endurance Series yesterday (Sunday).

Stratford-upon-Avon-based Sarah, 25, and Ryan raced their TFL Racing-prepared Juno SSE-CN sports car to fourth place in the Croft round of the championship. Their points haul for the season to date puts Reader and Hooker in second place in the championship with only the 19 October Silverstone round remaining.

"Second in the championship is better than we dared hope for at the start of our first season in the championship," said Sarah, "and our aim for Silverstone is to finish well and to at least secure the runner-up spot. That said, we will of course push to win the title if we can."

The TFL Racing team's slick preparation and pit work ensured that Sarah and Ryan enjoyed a trouble-free outing at Croft. They qualified seventh after some good work in setting up the Juno to cope with the North Yorkshire track's notorious bumps.

Reader raced first and handed over to Hooker in sixth place after 90 minutes in the hot seat. Ryan improved their position to fourth, thanks to another car suffering problems and a masterly pass which Hooker pulled off at the end of a safety car period. The TFL Juno continued in fourth to the chequered flag to finish two spots behind their title rivals, Graham Fennymore and Chris Bialan in their Piranha Racing Juno.

WARWICKSHIRE DRIVER TAKES CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD

Warwickshire racer Sarah Reader and her co-driver Ryan Hooker have claimed a narrow overall lead in the VdeV Endurance Series following another strong result at the Assen circuit in the Netherlands on Sunday (7 Sep).

Stratford-upon-Avon-based Sarah, 25, and Ryan were racing their TFL Racing-prepared Juno SSE-CN sports car in the three-hour Dutch round of the championship. They finished fourth overall after some clever tactical work by their team in predicting the tricky weather conditions.

Reader and Hooker qualified seventh on the grid - the best of the Juno runners - and Sarah took the wheel for the first driving stint, on a dry track threatened by heavy clouds. The rain arrived before the end of Reader's shift, forcing her and the rest of the field to the pits to switch to rain tyres, but the team made a good stop and no time was lost.

Sarah handed over the TFL Juno and seventh place to Ryan, who then stayed out on wet tyres despite a drying track. "We gambled that there would be more rain," said TFL team manager Simon Reader, "and there were several nail-biting laps for us as the track continued to dry and those cars which had changed to slick tyres started to gain an advantage. Then the anticipated shower came and we were able to capitalise as other cars were forced back to the pits for wet tyres."

The weather's intervention helped secure fifth place for Reader and Hooker, a lap ahead of their nearest rival, and they were promoted to fourth towards the end by the retirement of one of the frontrunners. Their car was the leading Juno finisher.

With only two rounds remaining - at Croft and Silverstone - Reader and Hooker have assumed a slender lead in the championship, but the team is not counting its chickens just yet: "The championship is very tight at the top," says Simon, "and any one of three teams could win it - there is everything to play for." 

READER TAKES ENDURANCE RACE SECOND PLACE

Sarah Reader scored her best result of the season on Saturday (28 June) when she and her co-driver, Ryan Hooker, finished second in the VdeV UK Championship at the Oulton Park.

Stratford-upon-Avon-based Sarah, 25, and Ryan were racing their TFL Racing-prepared Juno SSE-CN sports car in a four-hour endurance round of the championship, the longest event they have so far tackled.

Hooker took the first stint, climbing from 11th on the grid to ninth place after 75 minutes work in the cockpit. Reader took the wheel for the following hour and three-quarters, Sarah working hard to conserve brakes and tyres and improving their overall placing to fifth by the third hour and her hand-over to Hooker.

Sarah was left to bite her nails in the pit lane for the final hour as Ryan battled towards the finish. "There was a lot of nervous pacing up and down for me," said Sarah, "but I needn't have worried as Ryan drove brilliantly and the car ran faultlessly all afternoon thanks to the impeccable preparation work of TFL Racing."

The Reader/Hooker Juno crossed the finish line in third place, but was later promoted to second when one of the cars which finished ahead on the road was found to have been running incorrect tyres. "I am overjoyed with the result," said Sarah. "To take second place in only our third race in this championship is fantastic."

TFL team manager Simon Reader was delighted also: "The whole team is very pleased. A four-hour endurance race is always fraught with problems and there was a succession of cars coming into the pits throughout the race for attention to mechanical problems, but ours ran perfectly. Sarah and Ryan looked after the car well and our driver changes were among the quickest, which enabled us to make up places at each stop."

mail your news to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk