Silverstone 24 March

With the Arrowpak Eurosaloons competition getting forever faster, we have declined the opportunity to race Rich Ellingham's Fiat Tipo, partially because we are spending our racing budget on legal fees, and partly because we hope that some time this season we will find another means of racing. Under the circumstances, spending money on a car that is not ours in a bid to not come last, holds little appeal.

A measure of the success of the Arrowpak Euro Saloons championship is that we were invited to appear as support race on the prestigious Britcar card for the first race of the season. And better still, this would be on the full Silverstone GP circuit, a first for us.

Qualifying:
To back up the faith that Britcar have in us, 31 cars lined up for early Saturday qualifying. Some drivers had taken advantage of a Friday test day to familiarise with the circuit, some would have to learn their way round in what was due to be a 15 minute session. With lap times in the order of 2.25 to 2.5 minutes, there would not be many laps to learn the way.

Darren Dowling, the one time TVR Challenge driver was making an appearance in a TVR Sagaris and duly set the pace over a second ahead of Andy Robinson (Ford Falcon), with Vaughan Fletcher (Subaru Impreza) a further 0.5 seconds behind in third. Barry Squibb (Mitsubishi Evo) led the “best of the rest”, 3 seconds adrift of the front three, but Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon) took Class B pole just 2/10ths shy of Squibb with her nearest class competitor Peter Challis (Nissan Primera) 2 seconds further back in 6th.

Mark Todd (Seat Leon) was the Class C polesitter, in 11th overall, but with the demise of Rachael Finney’s Porcshe 944 Turbo to a holed sump, Todd and all thise behind would move up a place on the grid. Ian Craig (BMW M3) and Nick Hayes (Seat Leon) were next up in Class C, separated by just a tenth, but 2 seconds and 4 places adrift of Todd. Class D was busy with 6 Renault Clio Cup cars and a lone Suzuki Cappuccino, the Suzuki had issues in qualifying and failed to set a time, leaving Dan Croft to take the pole in 18th from defending champion Andy Jordan 20th, the two cars split by the Class B BMW M3 of Kevin Wendt, unusually far down the grid. Class E had only the two competitors, Chris Boon (Honda Civic) easily beating Steven Winnifrith (BL Mini).

Race 1:
Darren Dowling elected to start from the rear of the grid leaving Andy Robinson and Vaughan Fletcher a clear run into Copse. The Ford Falcon was mighty on the opening lap, although running wide on Copse on his way to a 3 second lead over Barry Squibb by the end of the first lap, with Vaughan Fletcher just 0.5 second behind. Dowling starting from the back was already up to 13th and by lap 3 would be in 4th place, with Robinson 5 seconds ahead of Squibb, with Fletcher a second back, and 3 seconds ahead of Dowling. By lap 5, Dowling had passed Squibb and Fletcher but was 8 seconds adrift of Robinson. Dowling closed the gap by 1.5 seconds on lap 6, and another 3 seconds on lap7 as he set fastest lap of the race.

The gap was down to 1.7 seconds on lap 8 as the last lap board was shown, Robinson found enough pace on the final lap to cross the line just 1.4 seconds ahead of the TVR, but his joy was short lived as he was given a 2 second penalty for “exceeding the limits of the track”, promoting Dowling to first place. Behind them, Squibb and Fletcher had traded places until problems with excess boost caused Fletcher to back off leaving Squibb to take the final podium position 17 seconds adrift of Robinson. Fletcher had built a sufficient gap behind him to still take 4th place after a final slow lap.

Ilsa Cox lost her main Class B opposition (Peter Challis) on lap 5, just after Challis had set the fastest Class B lap of the race and passed Cox into 5th overall, as the Nissan succumbed to engine issues. Derek Hale (Honda Accord) took up the challenge, but a poor qualifying position was too big a handicap, Hale finally finishing 13 seconds and 3 places behind 5th placed Cox, with fellow Class B competitors Stephen Brooks (Seat Leon) and Brian Cox (Seat Leon) making up the next two places.

Defending Class C champion Ian Craig had overhauled Class C poleman Mark Todd from the start and was already 6 seconds clear at the end of the first lap. Craig was lapping consistently a couple of seconds faster than Todd so extended his lead throughout the race to start 2012 where he left off. The Class D race was thrown wide open on the opening lap as the Clios got too close, Andy Jordan ended up in the gravel and Kevin Wendt (down on the grid with the Clios) lost a wheel and retired. Three newcomers to the championship eventually took the three Class D podium positions, with John Hamilton triumphing over Dan Croft and David Thomas, the latter pair had been embroiled in a race long battle together and with Tony Soper’s misfiring Harrier, Thomas receiving a post race penalty to place him behind Soper (Class A). In a portent of things to come, fastest Class D lap went to Wayne Schofield who started last but finished 19th.

Race 2:
Paul Smith took over the TVR Sagaris from Darren Dowling for race 2, and therefore started from the back of the grid leaving Andy Robinson and Barry Squib on the front row. Robinson was keen to not be caught this time and launched off at a blistering pace. Squibb tried to stay with him and although the first lap gap was just 1.4 seconds, by lap 2 it was 4.7 seconds, by lap 3 it was 9 seconds an Robinson continued to pull away at 3-5 seconds per lap. Smith had moved up from last to 10th on the first lap, but already 17 seconds adrift of Robinson. Smith was struggling to move through the pack, the pace Dowling had shown in race 1 was not there, and by lap 4 was still only up to 6th, but now 36 seconds behind the leader.

Smith retired on lap 6 but Robinson was unaware so kept his pace unabated to win from Squibb by 33 seconds. With Fletcher starting from the back, and pulling out after just one lap, Squibb was untroubled in his race to 2nd place, finishing 22 seconds ahead of the final podium place which went to Class B winner Derek Hale. A better starting place put Hale in contention from the start and he passed Cox on the first lap to move straight up into 4th, moving into 3rd on lap 8 after Ian Roberts (Mitsubishi Evo) withdrawal with transmission problems. Cox was sitting within a second of Hale until her pace dropped on lap 6 allowing Doug Ellwood (Class A Marcos Mantis) to separate the two Class B cars and leave Hale to take the class win.

Ian Craig was running near the front and keeping touch with the leading pack on his way to a comfortable Class C win, Mark Todd unable to compete due to head gasket issues and Nick Hayes finishing a minute down on Craig. In Class D, Wayne Schofield had given warning in race 1 that the little Suzuki might be a race winner – some changes to suspension settings saw the Suzuki start at the back of Class D and move quickly through the Clios on its way to 10th overall and a Class D win, 6 seconds ahead of Dan Croft in the first Clio to finish, after a last lap coming together between race 1 winner John Hamilton and Tony Soper left Hamilton unable to finish the race, gifting 2nd in class to Croft, with David Thomas completing the Class D podium. Chris Boon has a second lonely race on his way to a second easy Class E win.

After 1 round, Ian Craig leads the standings on 42 points from Andy Robinson and Ilsa Cox, both on 40. Dan Croft (38) is the early leader in the Mark Fish Renault Clio Cup Challenge from David Thomas (34) and David Pierce (30). Cox also leads the Arrowpak Super Touring Cup with 40 points to Derek Hale (38), while Seat are the early leaders in the MSE_Performance.com Manufacturers Cup with 164 points to 148 by Renault. The series now moves on to the next race at Cadwell Park on 13 May.

Read the official race report here.

Check out the current points standing.

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