Britcar - Brands Hatch Review
The Britcar season finished with racing into the night at a cold Brands Hatch.
Race 1
The 50 minute sprint race was won by Alan Purbrick and David Brise in the ALP Racing Saker RAPX in dramatic style from FF Corse Ferrari 458 of David Mason / Ross Wylie. After 50 minutes of racing including pitstops, Purbrick managed to overhaul the Ferrari as the pair crossed the line on the penultimate lap. The last lap Mason did all he could but at the Purbrick was able to hold on to the lead and crossed the line less than a second ahead.
It all started with Ross Wylie in the Ferrari disappearing off into the distance as the race began. Wylie was so fast in the Ferrari by lap 30 he had already lapped the Saker. The aim was to have a few laps buffer in order for the am driver of Mason could bring the car home in the lead. By the time it all played out, the Ferrari only had a slender lead before Purbrick made his move.
Completing the podium was the Ginetta G55 Superprix of Lucky Khera and Declan Jones. Finishing behind the lead pair by only three seconds, Jones, given another lap, may have secured the win due to the pace he was going in the Ginetta.
Behind there was plenty of action. Due to some close first lap racing (and some debris from a previous race on track) a trio of cars, Kevin Clarke's BMW M3, Nick Scott-Dickenson Ginetta G55, Sarah Moore Ginetta G50, had to pit because of punctures. This put them out of contention for overall triumph, but some sterling work by Matt Greenwood in the Ginetta G50 gave the pairing the overall Endurance title.
Tom Barley and Simon Rudd in the Class 3 Ginetta were doing their best to win the Endurance title with Rudd going a lot faster than the leaders and trying to unlap himself as he gave chase to the Ginetta G50 given the speed he was enjoying in the Ginetta. Even though they just missed out on the overall Endurance title, they came away with Class champion.
Race 2
Before the race got underway the Team HARD Toyota Avensis of Sam Randon had already made an excursion into the Clearways gravel trap and then started from the pitlane. Meanwhile at the front Wylie and Brise were fighting for the lead. The Ferrari finally got the lead as they exited Druids and headed towards Graham Hill bend. Wylie in the Ferrari was soon off and by the time 25 laps had been ticked off, he had lapped the entire field!
Behind the Ferrari, Brise was still circulating in second with the Ginetta G55 of Lucky Khera again in third. Two more Ginettas followed with Marmaduke Hall in the G50 and Tom Barley in the G55. Hall was fighting for third and over next few laps the pair kept swapping places. Hall stayed in 3rd after the pitstops as Hall pitted under the safety car while Lucky had already carried out his pitstop.
The Sprint runners were already making their pitstops when the Smart car of Rob Baker came to rest on the pit exit. This prompted the safety car to be deployed and cue all the remaining Sprint runners to make their stops. Also making a stop was Hall in the Ginetta, although this wasn't the planned stop. Instead this was a retirement and a garage full of extinguisher.
Once the safety car period had ended, the Ferrari, now in the hands of Mason, was still out in the lead again with Purbrick second and Khera in third. This was how the order remained for the rest of the 50 minute sprint.
The attention now turned to the Endurance category. Ryan Lindsay in his Intersport BMW was in the lead with Tom Barley hot on his heels. Third was Martin Byford in BPM Racing SEAT. All was about to change as Lindsay, avoiding a spinning car, made contact with another. This caused damage to the BMW's radiator and therefore retirement. This left Byford in the lead as Barley was in the pits handing over to Simon Rudd.
Lindsay stopped later than the rest but unfortunately Ashley Woodman (who had taken over) had to serve drive through penalty for an infringement at the pit stop.
Elsewhere, newly announced BTCC driver Michael Crees was running in third but a noisy front splitter on the Toyota meant a quick stop to the pits to try and rectify it. The team turned the car round and sent it out again only losing one place in the process.
Back to the front and Simon Rudd took the flag after 2 hours of racing and 132 laps and a lap ahead of Woodman in the SEAT. Third was the pairing of Sam Randon and Crees in the Toyota. Crees was able to overhaul Scott-Dickenson after falling behind the Ginetta due to that enforced stop.
A noted absentee was the Ginetta of newly crowned Endurance Champions who decided not to race as they would have dropped this race score.
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