Rockingham 20-21 August 2011
Rounds eight and nine of the 2011 BRSCC Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship marked a return to the Rockingham Motor Speedway on a warm and muggy weekend where the threat of rain seemed ever present.
Qualifying:
Birthday boy Peter Challis was the class of the field in qualifying, his Nissan Primera making the most of its presents - new tyres and a fresh engine! But Challis wasn't going to be in for an easy ride, new driver to the series, Richard Fearns (Ginetta G50) was just 0.35 behind taking the Class A pole, Andy Robinson's mighty Ford Falcon was just 2/10ths further back, with Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera) another 1/10 back, so just 0.67 seconds covering the top four drivers.
Jim Pocklington (BMW M3) looked comfortable in Class C back in 8th and almost 4 seconds faster than the BMW M3 of Ian Craig who just didn't have a good Rockingham set-up. Andy Jordan narrowly pipped Alan Taylor to Class D pole in the battle of the Clios, while Nick Boon was running in Class E in a Peugeot 106 while repairs to the Honda Civic that crashed last time out, were underway.
Race 1 (Saturday):
As race time approached, the sky was getting darker. Chief amongst those who hoped the rain would stay off was Andy Robinson who had broken the 1" drive for the Falcon's centre-lock wheels - the slicks were staying on regardless.
As usual at Rockingham, power told from the start. Challis got away well, but Robinson in the Falcon simply launched from 3rd place to pass Challis inside on turn 1 and headed down to the hairpin just in front. But the Falcon weighs a lot more than the Primera and it was Challis who emerged out of the hairpin in front. Barry Squibb (Mitsubishi Evo) got up from 10th into 3rd with Fearns, John Wilson (TVR Cerbera) and Hawken in close attendance. Coming down to the final corner on the in field, Robinson looked to be making a move from a long way back, but Challis had the track advantage and Robinson spun under braking, falling to last place as he was unable to get back on track while everyone went by.
Challis led across the line by 2 seconds from Squibb who was now up to 2nd, already they seemed well clear of the pack with 3rd placed Fearns more than 2 seconds behind Squibb. Challis piled on the pressure to lead by 3.2 seconds after 2 laps, but Fearns now looked to be on the move as fastest car on the track. Fearns passed Squibb on lap 3 and was now 3.5 seconds adrift of Challis who looked in control. The front two were running at a pace 2 seconds a lap faster than anyone else, and while Fearns was gaining around 0.5s a lap, but lap 5 3rd place Squibb was now 8 seconds off the front, Fearns just 2 seconds behind Challis.
Further back, Robinson was using the power and speed around the oval part of the circuit to move back up through the pack, by lap 5 he was back up to 9th from 17th at end of lap 1. Behind Squibb, David Krayem (Ginetta G50), Wilson and Hawken queuing up to battle Squibb for third place, Derek Hale (Honda Accord) was 8 seconds adrift of this battle after 5 laps.
The gap at the front was still coming down, Fearns was now consistently the fastest car on the circuit. After 8 laps the gap was down to 0.9seconds, and then spots of rain started to fall. Challis backed off just a fraction and Fearns took full advantage to take the lead. For the next 4 laps the gap remained constant at 0.4-0.5s, on the final lap Fearns got a better run while lapping and took the flag by 1.5 seconds from Challis. Squibb had pulled off after 6 laps, Krayem won the contest for 3rd place fully 24 seconds behind the leader, while Wilson finished 4th as Hawken fell backwards late in the race due to a broken gearshift. Robinson finished up in 5th place, just running out of laps as he was closing in on Krayem and Wilson at 2 seconds per lap.
Pockington had been unable to make the race with work being carried out on his BMW, leaving Ian Craig to take the Class C win uncontested. Taylor and Andy Jordan had been contesting Class D, from lap 7 onwards there was barely half a second between them, in favour of Jordan, but Taylor got by on lap 10 as Jordan dropped 4 seconds, something he could not recover from as Taylor took the class win. Further back, David Pierce and Ian Taylor had been in equally close combat, Jordan just able to hold off Pierce to take the final Class D podium position. Boon was uncontested in Class E but picked up valuable points in his substitute car.
Race 2 (Sunday):
Overnight rain had left the track damp, but by the time the Euro Saloons race took place, the track had dried out. Andy Robinson was unable to contest the Sunday race due to family committments, so there would be no Falcon rushing into turn one and demonstrating its power for this race.
Fearns and Challis took their places on the front row, and looked set to continue where they left off on Saturday. But cold tyres and too much enthusiasm saw Challis spin out at the hairpin relegating him to last place just as Robinson had done the day before, although Challis had sufficient of the lap left to catch and pass Boon in the Class E Peugeot. Ian Froggatt (Subaru Impreza) starting at the back had made a good start gaining 6 places on lap 1 before outbraking himself on lap 2, an unfortunate weekend ending in the gravel trap.
The two Ginettas up front (Fearns and Krayem) were pullingaway from third place Ellwood rapidly, by lap three they were already 8 seconds clear, while 2 seconds separated them. Fearns was pulling steadily away from Krayem, by lap 8 he was over 7 seocnds clear of Krayem and 18 ahead of third place Ellwood. Jim Pocklington had come through from the back of the grid to 8th after 1 lap, and was up to 4th after a few cars concertinered at the hairpin on lap two and he was a ble to take advantage, while Hawken recovered from a trip across the grass. On lap 5 Hale was able to pass both Hawken (now losing time as the Primera's flat gear change wasn't functioning) and Pocklington who was now struggling for rear end grip, as the latter pair lightly touched. Hawken made it past Pocklington a couple of laps later and gave chase to Hale. The pair raised their pace and were gaining fast on 3rd place Ellwood, Hale passing him on lap 10, Hawken doing so on lap 11. By now, this pair were the two fastest cars on the track, Hales setting fastest lap on lap 13, taking 5 seconds out of second place Krayem over two laps. Fearns took the flag and a double win for the weekend the following lap, Krayem managed to stay ahead of Hale to keep second place while Hale took the Class B win and 3rd place from Hawken.
Pocklington had faded later in the race but still took a comfortable Class C win over Ian Craig. In Class D, Andy Jordan got a poor start allowing Alan Taylor to get away. Both Ian Jordan and David Pierce got past Jordan to start with but both were back behind him by lap 4. By now Taylor's lead was up to 3 seconds and he was able to gradually extend this to 8 seconds by the end of the race. Once again, Boon brought the sole Class E car, his Peugeot 106, home to collect the win and the valuable points that put him back in front in Class E.
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