Silverstone 22 October 2011
The final round of the 2011 championship took place on the new Silverstone International circuit, the first time out on the new circuit layout. While Andy Jordan looked to already be the 2011 champion, a freak set of results (Jordan being disqualified while Hawken won his class) could change that.
Qualifying:
The season ended as it began, with a large and varied, this time 28 cars went out in qualifying. The battle for pole was enthralling, Gary Prebble (Mitsubishi Evo) set an early mark that looked like it might hold. Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera) set about gaining the Class B pole but was getting ever closer, while Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth) and Ian Richard Fearns (Ginetta G50) were closing in. After 8 laps there was just 8/100ths between the top three before Hawken set a new fastest lap on lap 9. This spurred Prebble into action as he responded immediately and took 1.5 seconds off Hawken’s time. Fearns narrowly missed the second front row spot late on, just shading Williamson, while David Krayem (Ginetta G50) moved into 5th on the final lap, with just 3/10ths covering 2nd to 5th.
Hawken’s nearest competitor looked to be Keith Butcher (Nissan Primera), but Hawken was a second clear of 6th placed Butcher. Ian Craig (BMW M3) just needed to finish to be Class C champion, but he was pipped to the Class C pole by Mark Todd (Seat Leon) by just .35 seconds as they lined up 14th and 15th on the grid. Champion-elect Andy Jordan (Renault Clio) was little more than a tenth ahead of his nearest Class D rival, Stewart Calder, but three grid places ahead while Nick Boon, back in his Honda Civic took a comfortable Class E pole from Gordon Mason (Peugeot 205).
Race:
Williamson was unable to take the start, leaving 27 cars to take the start. While Prebble predictably pulled away fast, Andy Robinson (Ford Falcon) launched through from 8th on the grid to be running 2nd by the end of the first lap, albeit 2.5 seconds adrift of Prebble. Butcher had got up to 3rd, just 1/100th ahead of Hawken after lap one. Doug Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) had moved up to 5th from 7th while Fearns had dropped to 6th right on Ellwood’s tail.
Butcher moved past Robinson on the second lap, but Prebble was pulling further ahead, Butcher and Robinson pulling away from 4th placed Hawken. Robinson retook 2nd on lap 6, but Prebble was still 4.5 seconds further out front. Robinson was in the groove and was closing down Prebble at a fast rate, the gap was down to a second by the end of lap 10, but the chase had taken its toll on Robinson’s tyres and the gap started moving out again. By lap 15 Butcher was almost 15 seconds back in 3rd place, and the same ahead of 4th place Hawken. Two laps later, Prebble took the flag 3.6 seconds clear of Robinson, with Butcher 3rd and Hawken 4th. After the race Butcher was given a 30 second penalty dropping him back to 5th, leaving Hawken to take the Class B win from 4th placed Ilsa Cox (Seat Leon).
In the Class C battle, Craig got the better start and was already 3 seconds clear of Todd after lap one, but Jonathan Edwards (Ford Escort Mk II) was between the pair, 2 seconds adrift of Craig. Craig extended the gap back to Edwards to 10 seconds by lap 8, and 13 seconds by lap 12, before Craig started slowing, losing 2-3 seconds per lap, and 7 seconds on lap 16 alone. Craig just held on to take the Class C win on his way to the Class C championship by less than a second, while outgoing champion Nick Hayes (Seat Leon) took 3rd place from Todd.
Andy Jordan got a good start and a 1.5 second lead over Stewart Calder at the front of the Class D tussle, but Calder was slowly clawing back the gap to around a second as both Clios consistently posted similar lap times. On lap 11, Calder was 2 seconds faster, the following lap he was ahead of Jordan, if only for a lap as Jordan retook the lead. There was just 1/10th in it with a lap to go, on the final lap Calder once again passed Jordan to deny him the win, but Jordan was confirmed as 2011 champion. In Class E Boon had a relatively uncontested win as Mason seemed well off his early season pace.
Andy Jordan wins the championship with 222 points from Class B champion Hawken (204) and Class C champion Craig (200). Class A was won by Ian Roberts (Mitsubishi Evo) from John Wilson (TVR) 124-118, while Nick Boon won Class E from Gordon Mason 152-100. We ended up third in class in Class E despite only running the two rounds, alas we will not qualify for a trophy at the end of season awards event.
Nyssa Racing would like to extend our congratulations to Andy Jordan, and we hope to be out competing next year if we can resolve the kappa situation.
