Race 1
Richard Chamberlain made a fantastic start from the outside of the front row to lead pole winner Jordan Witt in the opening laps of the race. Despite dropping to second on the opening lap to Chamberlain, Witt kept the pressure on by making use of the braking lines through the tricky first and last sectors. On lap 11 however, Witt tried an ambitious attempt up the inside of Chamberlain heading into Maggotts which spun the Porsche 935 and allowed Witt to take the lead on forceful terms. Chamberlain’s race then went from bad to worse when he later made contact with a back-marker, which forced him to retire.
“I thought the battle was good, we were really close at points,” said Witt. “I had a bit of an incident between me and Richard. I haven’t seen it so I don’t really want to comment just yet but it was tight. I think from then we just got into a rhythm and drove our own race.”
Behind Witt was The AF Corse Ferrari of John Dhillon and Aaron Scott. With Witt having to serve a 30 second success penalty there was a chance that the Ferrari in the hands of pro driver Scott might be able to overhaul the Bentley but it was not to be. Adam Wilcox, having taken over from Nigel Hudson, also gave chase in the Audi R8 but as able to take their second pit stop race podium on the trot.
In the GTB group Tom Bradshaw had to wrestle his Porsche back into the lead after losing it took the chequered flag after a dice for position with Nigel Armstrong. Jonathan Evans handed over to Bradshaw in the lead, however trouble during his pit stop meant he clawed back the advantage on track during the closing stages of the race. Rounding out the all Porsche podium was Andrew Baker in his Parr Motorsport entered machine.
“I got a reasonable start,” said Evans. “We had a few challenging issues with the gearbox throughout the race but we managed to work with it and I handed over to Tom in first place. Then we cocked up our pit stop a little bit, but Tom managed to find the extra time back.”
Paul Bailey and Andy Schulz had to combat ECU problems throughout the race, with Bailey suffering power steering and various electrical issues when he handed over to Schultz for the final stint. The duo persevered and were able to overcome the mechanical gremlins to take the GTC win. Neil Huggins initially lead the group before pitting to and over to new team mate Jeff Wyatt. It was at that point that the Ferrari could seize the advantage to take the lead. Also moving up with father and so pairing of Stuart and Lewis Proctor who brought their McLaren 650 Sprint home in second place.
“We had a really good qualifying and I was only five hundredths from P1,” said Paul. “Then we had a great race until the car kept cutting out. We lost all power so that was power steering, engine power, we had to keep resetting the car, but miraculously we managed to get fastest lap and P1 in the group. With car 74 coming fourth we’ve gained some really valuable points this weekend and I’m looking forward to Rockingham.”
Sam Webster drove a superb race to take GTA honours with team mate Jamie Stanley in their Fox Motorsport entered Ginetta. The pairing took victory after overtaking Esmee Hawkey to take the lead with just four laps to go. They were in a scrap with Daniel O’Brien after making a good start in the opening stages of the race, however contact between the two as a faster car came through knocked O’Brien into retirement.
“Esmee had 15 seconds less in the pit window, so I just needed to build as much time as I could because we did a really good pitstop,” said Webster. “I was caught by traffic in the right points and trying to dictate where they could pass me and using the quicker traffic as a way to edge away from the competiton. Then it was consistent lap times just banging them in lap after lap.”
Stanley added: “It was a good race, Sam did the opening stint and did a solid job and handed the car over with a little bit of lead obviously as a new entry we’ve got this penalty so I was up against it to catch Esmee at the end who drove really well.”
The performance would also win Webster the Sonoco Driver of the Weekend award after taking two victories and a third place.
RESULTS
GTO
1. Jordan Witt
2. Aaron Scott/John Dhillon
3. Nigel Hudson/Adam Wilcox
GTB
1. Tom Bradshaw/Johnathan Evans
2. Neil Armstrong/James Dawson
3. Andrew Baker
GTC
1. Andy Schultz/Paul Bailey
2. Stuart Proctor/LewisProctor
3. Neil Huggins/Jeff Wyatt
GTA
1. Webster/Stanley
2.Esmee Hawkey/James Birch
3.Ian Anderson/Amanda Black
Race 2
Tom Webb took a brilliant comeback victory in GTB, after starting on group pole he was tapped out on the opening lap. The Team Webb driver dropped down to last place overall before making his way through the traffic back up to sixth.
“It was a very frustrating race,” said Webb. “A long fight back to P1 in our group which we managed, but we might have been somewhere else had it not been for that big hinderance at the start of our race.”
It was a closely fought battle between Paul Bailey and Ross McEwen in GTC. The pair were nose-to-tail throughout the race, with McEwen challenging for the group lead. But contact coming out of Yentwood in the closing stages put McEwen sideways and off the track. The spin sent him down to 15th overall and allowed Bailey to take a rather comfortable victory.
“There was some oil on the track at Turn 4 which sent my car sideways, and he (McEwen) came up the inside in a gap that wasn’t there we touched,” said Bailey. “I recovered a little bit more than he did but I’m pleased with the result. Now I’ve got to buy a new door!”
Daniel O’Brien won the GTA race from Esmee Hawkey. O’Brien was able to capitalise when through the race Ian Anderson spun off the track while leading. Further back, Hawkey was able to fend off Brent Millage, who made a mistake on the final lap and promoted Anderson to third.
“We started in front then he (Anderson) sort of slipped up the inside into Turn 2,”said O’Brien. “I struggled to get past him for the rest of the race. but tventually he made a mistake and I was able to get through, which allowed us to pull a big gap to second and slip behind the top guys.”
In GTO Jordan Witt took victory despite an early challenge from Richard Chamberlain into the first corner to take the lead. However Witt was able to carry the speed through the corner, enabling him to control the pace from there to victory.
“The car was there all race. We got the lead and thought we’d back it off a little bit,” said Witt. “We turned it into wet mode which gave us a bit less boost and helped control the wheels a bit more as we wanted to save them for race two.”
RESULTS
GTO
1. Jordan Witt
2. Richard Chamberlain
3. Gareth Downing
GTC
1. Paul Bailey
2. Ross McEwen
GTB
1. Tom Webb
2. Nigel Armstrong
3. Andrew Baker
GTA
1. Daniel O’Brien
2. James Birch
3. Ian Anderson
