Dom Malone and Adam Smalley won again, but it wasn’t till the late stages of the race that they rose to the top, taking the title by just two points over the luckless Team BRIT pairing of Asha Silva and Bobby Trundley, who raced an untried and untested ill-handling BMW that the squad had to hastily cobble together after suffering severe front-end damage in Race 1, achieving the second-placed points in class.
Our night race proved even more popular this season with over 30 teams taking part
The two Amspeed Porsches headed the field through the two pace laps, with James Kellett taking the first stint in the #18 car, while Dom Malone was opening in the title-contending #74 machine, but as the lights went out, it was Luke Bennett, from the second row in the Innovation Ginetta, displaying skills acquired in SIM racing, that sneaked into second place behind Kellett, and as the pack rounded Druids, Innovation team boss Simon Griffiths spun into the gravel in the GT-spec Ginetta, and the Safety Car was deployed for a short period as the errant car was pulled out and back on its way. Just two laps later the Safety Car was called again – the Aston Martin of Martin Addison suffered contact, losing a wheel and ending up in the Paddock Hill gravel, and Ian Wilson’s Ginetta had come to a halt at Surtees, while the Cup class-leading Seat of Jamie Hayes was in the pits with turbo problems, the potential outsider for the title, or possible “kingmaker”, out of the race.
Nathan Wells landed P2 overall and the ROWE Driver of the Day award
The pit window opened while the Safety Car was out, and while most of the field took advantage, some, mainly the pro-drivers, left it to later on. Once the window closed, Dan Wylie, having replaced Luke Bennett in the Innovation Ginetta G56, emerged briefly as the race leader, but drive shaft failure marked the end of an impressive run, while the BMW F80 of Jas Sapra / Bryan Bransom would go no further due to headlight failure. Now in the lead was old hand and Brands favourite Karl Jones, having relieved Mark Smith in the Amspeed BMW E36, having some fun and acting as night watchman in the lead position, keeping the seat warm for fast-approaching Amspeed stablemate Adam Smalley, though lone driver Nathan Wells, in the newer BMW GTR, was creating his own version of events, and took the lead, which he held gamely for 11 laps, giving best to the faster Porsche with seven minutes of the race left, leaving Smalley to take the flag and close the Britcar season with the fifth overall win, and the overall and class titles. Amspeed locked-out the Challenge class podium, in fact, with Smith and Jones safely in third overall in the team’s E36, and Ash Muldoon holding steady in 10th overall in the erstwhile leading Porsche started by James Kellett. A stupendous performance by Nathan Wells, in the Woodrow BMW GTR, second overall and the GT class victory, earned him the Rowe Driver of the Day award, with Chris Bingham ending his rookie season with a second-in-class in the Raceworks Ginetta G55, and sealing the Class title, and 16-year old Michael Wheeler brought the Fox Transport McLaren, started by dad Richard, home third in class, another impressive performance. The unique Alfa Romeo Giulia of Barry McMahon and Paul Plant was next up, followed by the Innovation Ginetta G55, American Champ Car and Formula Mazda exponent Sevin Christian bringing it home following team boss Simon Griffiths opening stint.
Paul O’Neill and Alex Miller piloted the new team’s Ginetta
Driveshaft failure halted the Race 1 progress of the Box3 / Datum Ginetta, but a fired-up Nick Casey cut through the pack in a stirring Race 2 opening stint, while a rejuvenated Adriano Medeiros showed his old spirit and skill, moving up to fourth overall, and the Ginetta class win and accepting the Britcar Driver of the Day trophy, while similar brio was shown by Michael Knibbs and Aiden Hills, second in class in the Invitation entry Hills Motorsport G55 Supercup, while it was a difficult run for the remaining Datum runners – Marco Anastasi / Maurizio Sciglio and Dave May / Mark Skeats both took the flag but made long pit stops to fix issues, dropping them down the order. The Trophy class win went to Calum Bates, his BMW E46 beating Woodrow stablemate Chris Murphy’s E36, with Murphy just clinching the class title over Bates by a slim margin, with the ever-improving father and son duo of Steve and James Harrison taking the final class podium place in the High Row Ginetta. Alex Read had an out-of-regulation lone drive in the JLC Group Cupra, posting a fourth-place finish despite a penalty, and the Project 29-7 team, run by a delighted Paul O’Neill and Alex Miller, completed their inaugural event with a fifth place finish for the Ginetta of Darron Lewis and Carl Garnett, five seconds ahead of the Brookspeed/UBIQ BMW M2CSR of Andrew Dawber and Nathan Wright, with the SGM Ginetta, which was in the overall top three towards the end of Jack Mitchell’s opening stint, brought home seventh in the hands of Steve Fresle, while the Vortice Ginetta of Archie Buttle and first-timer Freddie Ingram made a late start to the race but took the flag 16 laps down.
The Cup class had highs and lows – after the early demise of the JLC Seat of Jamie and Christopher Hayes, Bobby Trundley headed the class in the ill-handling Team BRIT BMW 240i, but after the pit stops, lone driver Tom McFarlane’s Invitation entry VW Scirocco made the running, posting the win over the points-scoring TSR Audi TT of Mark Jones and Craig Fleming, redemption for a difficult season, with Asha Silva persevering in the errant Team BRIT BMW. Lone driver Jac Constable was the first TCR finisher in the JH Motorsport AUDI, both an invitee and a guest entry, with, the top class points going to the TSR Cupra of Fynn Jones and Rob Ellick, who breezed to the class title, while Cedric Bloch enjoyed a god run to third in the SGM–run Audi.
Overall podium from Race 2
ROWE Driver of the Day Nathan Wells
Sunoco Driver of the Day Adriano Medeiros
Text: Steve Wood; photos: Steve Jackman, Paul Cherry and Chris Valentine.