Buoyed by a win in the previous day’s Snetterton Saloons race, local driver Bryan Bransom, running as an Invitation entry in the Intersport-run BMW E46,annexed pole in qualifying, and took a convincing victory in the first of the weekend’s two Britcar Trophy races.
A gaggle of Clios
Ben Green, starting the Century/SGM Ginetta G56GTA alongside Bransom on the grid, announced plans to beat the BMW off the line, and the two cars vied for first place around the twisty sections on the opening lap, but once on the Bentley Straight, Bransom pulled out a slight advantage, and, aside from two laps during the pit window, maintained a lead that he held to the flag. Maurizio Sciglio slotted into third place in the yellow Datum Motorsport Ginetta , ahead of Simon Mauger, upholding Cupra honours in the absence of the similar Jabbasport car, which non-started after having gearbox issues, while behind them, Lee Goldsmith’s BMW was very racy with Marco Anastasi’s Ginetta. Maurice Henry led the Clio pack, lifting wheels and using as much if the track as allowed – he and Hadley Simpson may have clinched the Class title, but there was an overall crown still at stake, the major contender of which was the TSR Audi of Rob Ellick, which was leading Class 2 ahead of Asha Silva’s Team BRIT BMW240i. Matt Hyde, in the Dragon Sport Clio, was lifting wheels too, and locking up, as he got to the front of a close-packed Clio trio, ahead of team mate Jack James and High Row’s Thomas Lee, but those places see-sawed through the opening stint.
Rob Ellick came close to missing the pitstop window
The gap between Bransom and Green was never more than two seconds, and the BMW pitted around halfway through the window, leaving the lead to the Ginetta, which came in just before the window closed, with amateur driver Steve Fresle taking over. Also leaving it late – very late – to make his mandatory stop was lone driver Rob Ellick in the class-leading Audi TT, with just one second to spare as he broke the beam. Fresle held second place for a few laps, kicking up the dust as Datum teammates Anastasi and Sciglio made their moves, and the field was very much settled for the remainder of the race, with Bransom crossing the line two seconds before the 50-minutes were up, and needing to do another lap; with 19 seconds advantage, he could have slowed up to the line, and it was Anastasi that was the better of the Datum Ginettas, beating Sciglio to second place by just over five seconds, with Fresle, in the G56 started by Green, just hanging on to fourth place by less than half a second after a late-race push by Lee Goldsmith in the Geoff Steel-run BMW E46.
Lone driver Greg Saunders led a trio of Invitation-entry SEATs and Cupras home, with the EST Performance car of James and Luke Hayes fending off a charge from Simon Mauger, who had led the group in the early stages, while father and son duo Steve and James Harrison, taking a new direction in a High Row-run Ginetta G56, were a creditable 13th overall in their maiden outing. Rob Ellick maintained the title hopes for the black TSR Audi, winning Class 2 with a lap in hand over the Team BRIT BMW 240i of Asha Silva and Caleb McDuff, which suffered a puncture along the way, with the military-liveried TSR Audi TT of Mark Jones completing the class podium ahead of the BMW130 of Dennis Storey and Alan McCullough, while Bobby Trundley’s cameo appearance in the Team BRIT BMW1-Series, shared with Dom Shore, earned the Class 3 victory, ahead of invitee Callum Bates in the Whitebridge BMW Z4, and Alex Turnbull in the SVG Ginetta G40. Maurice Henry and Hadley Simpson did their title aspirations no harm by winning the Clio class, over six seconds ahead of Dragon Sport’s Harry Hickton/Jack James, with Alex Nevill / Matt Hyde third in an unusually spread-out Clio finish, with James Harrison jumping straight out of his new Ginetta to take over from Thomas Lee to take fourth in class. Anton Spires, running as a Guest entry, retired the Spires Motorsport Clio with eight laps on the board.
Britcar’s Haley Cox presents Bryan Bransom with the ROWE Driver of the Day award
Text: Steve Wood and Aimee Palmer; photos: Paul Cherry.