PADMORE DOES ANOTHER F1 DOUBLE IN WILLIAMS

Nick Padmore took his second consecutive double victory in FIA Masters Historic Formula One to take the overall title lead.

Starting from pole in his Williams FW07C, Padmore lost out to Martin Stretton’s Tyrrell 012 at the start of the first race, with Loic Deman’s Tyrrell 010 taking Mike Wrigley’s Williams FW07D into the Esses for third, before Rob Hall’s Ligier JS17 Matra snatched fourth at Goddards.

The lead duo continued to sprint away and ran side by side a couple of times at the Esses, which allowed Deman to close, before a light shower arrived.

“I was first into the Old Hairpin in the drizzle and ran wide,” said Stretton, as he slipped to third behind Padmore and Deman. But a lap later Padmore was “too cautious” at the Esses and Deman led as the top trio all closed up again.

Padmore led again at Redgate on lap eight, before Stretton’s fightback took him past both of his rivals at Melbourne over a three-lap period.

But there was more drizzle and Padmore was back in front with all three nose-to-tail until they caught a backmarker at Goddards. As Padmore backed off Stretton caught his rear wheel and the Tyrrell’s front bodywork flew off. Padmore held on for the win from Deman while, having lost out to Greg Thornton (Lotus 91/5) and Wrigley, Hall reclaimed third. That left Wrigley, Simon Fish’s Ensign and Thornton to complete the top six.

It was a lights-to-flag win for Padmore in the second race, with Stretton ousting Wrigley for second on lap two. Deman was third at the Esses a lap later as the order of the lead trio settled, leaving Thornton to challenge Wrigley for fourth position.

Into the Esses for the fifth time, Wrigley tried to fend off Thornton, skirted the gravel and was out of the race, but a lap later Thornton was off at Goddards promoting Hall to fourth, before the Lotus pitted with gear selection problems.

Stretton was edging closer and closer to challenging Padmore’s race-long lead, but the Williams driver just held on by 0.341s.

Hall retained fourth from Fish and David Abbott’s Arrows, after both Steve Hartley’s Arrows and Max Smith-hilliard’s Shadow had pitted.

Dave Forsbrey and Andy Newall came back from almost a lap down to take their Ford GT40 to victory in the Masters Three Hours. Forsbrey shared a couple of early exchanges with Chris Chiles Jr’s AC Cobra, before building a substantial lead.

But Chiles retained a clear second, which became top spot when Forsbrey handed to Newall and the GT40 required a longer fuelling stop. John/ Gary Pearson’s Jaguar E-type had been in third for most of the race, aided by Jon Minshaw’s E-type retiring early.

Carlos Monteverde’s GT40 came through into fourth during the early laps, but electrical problems put him out during the second hour.

While Newall set about successfully regaining the lead, Chiles Snr was hauled in by Rob Hall/andy Willis’ AC Cobra and the Pearson E-type, both going by in the final 30 minutes.

Newall made it home with time to spare and took the win by over 38 seconds from Hall/willis, with the Pearsons in third, from the Chiles, Graham Wilson/nigel Greensall’s Lotus Elan and Ronnie Maydon/ James Hagan’s Ginetta G4R.

David Tomlin was another double winner in the Ferrari Formula Classic. Tristan Simpson’s F355 led race one until he slid off at Mcleans on the third lap, leaving Richard Dougal and Tomlin duelling, until Jim Cartwright made it a three-way fight.

Tomlin just held on to a narrow advantage, but with Dougal’s F355 cutting out at Mcleans four laps from home, Cartwright remained a close second, with Simpson recovering to complete the podium.

Although Simpson led again from the start of race two, Cartwright headed the lead trio from the Esses on lap two, with Tomlin in his wheeltracks. The lead changed a couple more times before Tomlin made it stick, while Simpson and Tim Mogridge were promoted to complete the podium after Cartwright picked up a track limits penalty and dropped to fourth.

Both Allcomers and Canam Interserie races were comfortably won by Andy Newall’s Mclaren M8F. John Grant’s M8C/D was second in the opening race until he pitted two laps from home with a puncture. Having lost an early third place to Frank Bradley’s clutch-less March 717, Mike Donovan’s Lola T70 came in second ahead of Paul Gibson’s similar car, after Bradley crashed out at the Old Hairpin.

It was lights-to-flag for Newall again in race two, with Grant in second until Bradley pipped him in the final dash to the flag by 0.106s, with Donovan fourth.

Tommy Gilmartin’s Morgan +8 led an early three-car break in the first Scottish Classic Sports & Saloon race, but was kept honest during the second half by John Kinmond’s Rover 3500, once he had got past Raymond Boyd’s Porsche 911 on the third lap. But a track limits penalty dropped Kinmond back to third place. It was a similar story in the second encounter, but after Kinmond ousted Boyd on lap four, he retained his second place in the final results.

Returning Scottish BMW Compact Cup champion Steven Dailly had the legs on current championship leader Gary Clark in both races. Both held station throughout the double header, but having taken a comfortable third in race one, Ray Macdowall had a fight on his hands the second time around. He shared three exchanges with Cliff Harper, but neither could gain an advantage exiting Goddards side by side for the final time with Harper getting the verdict by 0.05s.

Henry Mann’s Ford Fairlane dominated the Pre 66 Touring Cars. Andy Wolfe/michael Gans’ Lotus Cortina was the nearest challenger throughout, with Mark Burton’s Ford Mustang completing the podium.

Patrick Sherrington’s MCR was never headed in the first Sports 2000 race, with Michael Gibbins and Paul Trayhurn second and third throughout. Gibbins’ MCR was the initial leader in race two, forcing Sherrington to fight hard, but he made the decisive move into the Esses on lap nine, with Gibbins left fending off a determined Trayhurn for second.

Robert Oldershaw’s Lola T212 came from the back of the grid to pass Paul Gibson’s Lola T70 for the lead into Melbourne on the 15th lap of the FIA Masters Historic Sports. With Mark Piercy handing the second-placed Lola T210 to Martin Stretton, it was wheel to wheel for the lead with Oldershaw, before Stretton led into the Esses on lap 23. Gibson was still third on the road, put a penalty handed the place to Michael Gans (Lola T290).

1 Padmore; 2 Stretton +0.341s; 3 Deman; 4 Hall; 5 Simon Fish (Ensign N180); 6 David Abbott (Arrows A4). CW Stretton. FL Stretton 1m24.468s (106.01mph). P Padmore. S 10.

1 Dave Forsbrey/andy Newall (Ford GT40); 2 Andy Willis/ Rob Hall (Shelby American Cobra) +38.642s; 3 John Pearson/ Gary Pearson (Jaguar E-type); 4 Chris Chiles Jnr/ Chris Chiles Snr (AC Cobra); 5 Graham Wilson/ Nigel Greensall (Lotus Elan 26R); 6 Ronnie Maydon/james Hagan (Ginetta G4R). CW Willis/ Hall; Wilson/ Greensall; Nicholas Ruddell/ Peter Rimer/ Robert Crofton (Ford Mustang). FL Newall 1m46.627s (83.97mph). P Forsbrey/ Newall. S 23.

1 David Tomlin (308 GTB); 2 James Cartwright (328 GTB) +0.621s; 3 Tristan Simpson (F355 Challenge); 4 Richard Cook (F355 Challenge); 5 Chris Butler (328 GTB); 6 Peter Everingham (328 GTB). CW Cartwright; Simpson; Butler; William Moorwood (308 GT4). FL Cartwright 1m49.715s (81.61mph). P Tomlin. S 22.

1 Tomlin; 2 Simpson +5.912s; 3 Tim Mogridge (F33 Challenge); 4 Cartwright; 5 Cook; 6 Everingham. CW Simpson; Cartwright; Everingham; Moorwood. FL Mogridge 1m48.929s (82.20mph). P Dougal. S 19.

1 Newall; 2 Frank Bradley (March 717) +10.319s; 3 Grant; 4 Donovan; 5 Gibson; 6 Taylor. CW Donovan. FL Bradley 1m31.459s (97.90mph). P Newall. S 7.

1 Gilmartin; 2 Kinmond +1.469s; 3 Boyd; 4 Graham; 5 Crow; 6 Brennan. CW Boyd; Crow; Daltrey. FL Graham 1m52.701s (79.45mph). P Gilmartin. S 11.

1 Dailly; 2 Clark +5.278s; 3 Harper; 4 Macdowall; 5 Neil Macinnes; 6 Liam Grant. FL Dailly 1m59.475s (74.94mph). P Dailly. S 14.

1 Henry Mann (Ford Fairlane); 2 Andy Wolfe/ Michael Gans (Lotus Cortina) +6.460s; 3 Mark Burton (Ford Mustang); 4 Carlos Monteverde/ Gary Pearson (Lotus Cortina); 5 Graham Pattle (Lotus Cortina); 6 Andrew Haddon/ Mark Martin (Lotus Cortina). CW Wolfe/ Gans; Burton; Jonathan Lewis (Austin Mini Cooper S). FL Mann 1m53.989s (78.55mph). P Mann. S 13.

1 Patrick Sherrington (MCR); 2 Michael Gibbins (MCR) +4.979s; 3 Paul Trayhurn (Gunn TS11); 4 Tom Stoten (Gunn TS11); 5 David Houghton (MCR); 6 Paul Martin (MCR). CW Trayhurn; Alaric Gordon (Carbir CS2); Colin Feyerabend (Lola T90/90); Clive Steeper (Tiga SC80); Damien Griffin (Lola T598). FL Sherrington 1m34.931s (94.32mph). P Sherrington. S 31.

1 Sherrington; 2 Gibbins +9.747s; 3 Trayhurn; 4 Stoten; 5 Houghton; 6 Martin. CW Trayhurn; Gordon; Feyerabend; Griffin; Steeper. FL Sherrington 1m35.431s (93.83mph). P Sherrington. S 28.

of Paul Bellamy, and would beat David Hickton in the finale.

That second win, his fourth in a row, was threatened by a back-marking Ford Fiesta that ran wide and came close to hitting West at the chicane on the penultimate lap, but he emerged unscathed for victory.

While West and Gent could breathe relatively easy in their events come the final lap, Stephen Primett would have no such comfort in the Group 1 Touring Cars and Pre 2005 Production Touring cars.

His Ford Escort Mk1 was caught up in an enthralling battle with Stephen Cripps in each race as the duo proved to be closely matched.

Primett’s Thruxton experience matched Cripps’ more modern Escort Mk2, and Cripps simply couldn’t find a way past in the opener, before Primett took a marginally more comfortable second victory.

While the sprints enthralled, it was Nigel Moore and Phil Hanson who combined to take the honours in the Britcar Endurance Championship two-hour race, despite a late change in strategy.

The pair opted for a risky one-stop strategy, taking just the mandatory stop for Hanson to hand over to Moore, which initially had them one lap clear of the field.

However, late on Moore had to abandon the strategy to change tyres as Thruxton’s notoriously abrasive service took its toll on the car.

While a large chunk of the advantage had evaporated, Moore was able to consistently lap quicker than the second placed Lamborghini Gallardo of Nigel Mustill. That Lamborghini had originally taken pole, with Craig Dolby double stinting with the aim of building an unassailable lead. As they were set to return to the track for the second run, a Dunlop technician pointed out the heavy wear on the rear tyres.

With time lost for four tyre replacements, Dolby’s lead fell away and handed Moore the start of his route to victory. Mustill finished a distant second, followed by Anthony and Mike Wilds’ Ferrari 458 GT3.

The podium trio showed the merit of taking part in the Britcar Production and GT Challenge opening race.

Despite their endurance showings, it was the Mosler MT900 of Javier Morcillo and Manuel Cintrano that took victory. Their closest rival, Dolby’s Lamborghini, picked up a puncture that ended his charge, handing the Ferrari 458 GT3 of Calum Lockie the race lead.

He managed to hold off the Mosler, with the two leading cars pitting at the same time. Both taking 90s success penalties, it came down to who could pull off the slickest stop and Cintrano returned ahead of Lockie’s team-mate David Mason.

Cintrano pulled a sizable advantage over Mason, enough to cover for a spin at Cobb, and cantered to victory.

The third placed Ferrari of Anthony Wilds was able to make up significant ground to beat Mason to second late on.

For the second race, several cars withdrew in order to conserve the car for the endurance event.

With a depleted grid, there was a repeat of the Anthony Wilds’ chase of David Mason, this time for the win.

Russell Mccarthy’s wait for an elusive maiden MGCC BCV8 win goes on after James Wheeler twice pipped him to victory.

Mccarthy looked set to finally break his duck in the second of the two races, leading right up until the penultimate lap.

His rival Wheeler had held pole, but a smart move by Mccarthy pushed him ahead and into a race-long battle for victory.

Mccarthy repelled everything Wheeler threw at him until the latter got an excellent launch out of Seagrave, drawing level on the approach to the Noble turn before making a pass stick to secure victory.

Their battle in the first race was just as exciting. Wheeler made a stronger start, but Robert Spencer’s excellent launch meant he and Mccarthy ran in a three-car lead train.

Spencer’s strong start would count for nothing later on. After passing Mccarthy for second he missed fifth gear twice and allowed Mccarthy back through, but it was too late to challenge Wheeler.

A sizable 40-car entry made up the Nippon Challenge/deutsche Marque/tricolore Trophy offering, requiring savvy traffic management on a packed circuit.

Nerijus Zabotka used all of his Subaru Impreza’s grunt to take the win, moving from ninth on the grid to seal top honours.

He looked set to make it two wins from two in the finale, but slowed with a mechanical issue late on to allow Michael Hamlett to win after starting fourth.

Despite a more concise grid, the MR2 Racing Series had the closest racing at Thruxton.

Throughout both encounters, the top five were regularly within one second of each other and it was Adam Lockwood and Arron Pullan who shared the race spoils.

Robert Spencer’s participation and eventual win in the mighty Thoroughbred Sports Car race came about through a front bumper loan from rival Neil Fowler after an incident earlier in the weekend.

The two then proceeded to battle for the victory, with Spencer taking a narrow win. They led home Alan Charlton’s Triumph TR6 snd Paul Khouri’s MG BGT.

at the start and ending the first lap in ninth. As a consequence, his only rival in the ZR190 class, Robin Walker, led but he had dramas of his own on lap seven. “I lost all revs coming out of Gerard’s and had to drop it into third to keep moving,” he said, after retiring. That incident allowed the recovering Cole through but sent championship leader Lee Sullivan over the grass in avoidance, costing him two places.

Ten laps later Sullivan got ahead of Paul Luti for second in the ZR170 class by diving through on the inside at Gerard’s. Richard Marsh, who had suffered hub failure in practice, defended stoutly, but ceded the class win (and second overall) at the hairpin two laps from the end.

Cole romped away with the second race, but the highlight was the fight for second and Class B victory. Luti spent the best part of a lap alongside Sullivan mid-race, sealing the position at the hairpin. Sullivan audaciously swept back through around the outside at Gerard’s two laps later, before Luti was relegated to fourth by Fergus Campbell, who salvaged what he could from an incident-packed day. William Payne, second in the points coming into the weekend, was comfortably on top of the ZR160 division both times out.

Thomas Halliwell’s MG ZR dominated the first MG Cup encounter after some entertaining early exchanges with the invitation Rover Tomcat of Richard Buckley, which retired after seven laps of a restarted race. Tom Diment inherited second in his ZR170, but the hard work of his team to repair damage after a qualifying incident went unrewarded when he pulled in. Lewis Anderson thus completed the podium in his ZR170, fending off James Walpole’s B.

Halliwell notched his seventh win of the year in race two after again overcoming the initial threat of Buckley, who this time placed second. Third position eventually went to James Darby’s B, which seemed to get a second wind. Anderson and Dave Thompson jostled him mid-race, but later slowed each other up before Anderson secured fourth at the Esses on the last tour.

Ross Makar converted his comfortable Cockshoot Cup pole position into an equally comfortable win, but he didn’t make it easy for himself. Philip Standish (TF LE500) made the best start from the outside of row two to lead by Gerard’s Bend, with Makar also shuffled behind Ashley Woodward’s ZS. Makar (ZR190) retrieved second at Devil’s Elbow on lap three, but it took another six laps to get the lead. He and Standish ran side-byside for half a lap before Makar slotted through at the Esses, with Standish shuffled back to fourth after a sort-out at the hairpin. Woodward finished 9s adrift of Makar, with Gary Wetton (ZR190) getting the better of Standish again on lap 12 to take third.

Tom Smith’s MGB was the clear winner of the Equipe GTS endurance race. Rob Cull (TVR Grantura) had a stint in second until John Andon’s Triumph TR4 got back through. A lurid spin on the exit of Gerard’s dropped Cull to sixth in the last quarter of the race, but he climbed back to fourth, beaten to the final podium position by Pete Foster (TR4).

James Dunkley led from lights-to-flag in the Midget/sprite Challenge – just. Graeme Adams, quicker through the hairpin loop, came close to passing him in the early stages, but he dropped away and behind the car of David Weston (who himself had emerged from a great fight with Martin Morris, resolved at the hairpin on lap eight) mid-race. Adams’ tentative attempt on second place at Gerard’s on the final lap came to nothing. Stephen Collier won Class B comfortably in the end from Carl Chadwick, but it all nearly went horribly wrong approaching Gerard’s on lap 11 when Peter Kennerley flew past both of them, then spun.

Brian Arculus was shadowed throughout the Iconic 50S/FISCAR race by Jonathan Smare, who made it a Lotus Elite one-two.