CROFT: BARC BY TOM ERRINGTON

Jonny Macgregor suffered the highs and lows of motorsport in the Britcar GT & Production Championship last weekend at Croft.

Having damaged the floor of his Taranis in the opener, he and the team spent most of Sunday making repairs and just made the finale. Starting at the rear, Macgregor stormed from the back to a memorable win ahead of Andy Robinson and the third-placed Aston of Chris Murphy and Jonny Cocker.

In the first race earlier, difficult conditions caught out many of the small grid, with Lance Gauld managing his Porsche Cayman to a win ahead of Murphy and Cocker and the BMW E46 M3 of Mike Moss/kevin Clarke.

The Britcar Endurance Championship’s three-hour race was largely processional. The lack of overtaking was down in part to a dominant showing from Phil Hanson/nigel Moore, who steered their Audi R8 LMS to a win and the championship lead. They finished a lap ahead of the second placed BMW Z4 GT3 of Ian Lawson/kevin Clarke, with Calum Lockie and David Mason’s Ferrari 458 GT3 finishing third.

James Dorlin left Croft a double-winner in the Michelin Clio Series, but his second win came after holding his nerve. Polesitter Brett Lidsey was dispatched at Clervaux on the opening lap, but Lidsey relentlessly hounded the leader until the flag. Josh Cook rounded off the podium in third in a guest appearance, but earlier in the day he was the closest to Dorlin. A strong start in that first race had let Dorlin pull well clear, leaving a lonely race for Cook where he finished comfortably ahead of Tom Barley.

There was also a double-winner in the Junior Saloons, where Katie Milner continued her title challenge. Milner looked comfortable in the first race, converting her strong lead into victory ahead of Oliver Wilmott and Matteo Zanetti. However, she didn’t have it all her own way early on. Solid defending led to her holding her points lead over title rival George Sutton, who could only place seventh.

Sutton would challenge Milner in the finale though. He initially held the lead, but an impressive move on the outside of Tower early on put Milner back in front and Wilmott seized the chance to jump Sutton for third, setting the race’s final order.

A strong entry of 40 cars in the Northern Saloons was split into two grids, with Bill Addison storming to a brace in the A& E class and Kirk Armitage doing the same in the B,C, D & H showings.

Addison’s Caterham was largely unchallenged, taking a simple win in the opener ahead of Paul Wolfitt’s Mini and Andy Wilson’s Porsche. The second was more challenging, with Wolfitt’s Mini tipped into a barrel roll on the opening lap. With the driver unhurt, there was a shortened race and a restart that Addison had the measure of for his second victory.

There was more drama in the battle for second behind. Mike Cutt and Paul Brydon’s battle for the position ended with the pair in the barriers at Clervaux, allowing Mark Jessop and Andrew Morrison to round off the podium.

Armitage’s feat in the other race was more straightforward, winning the opener by more than half a minute. Behind, all eyes were on the thrilling battle for second between Martin Whitehouse in the BMW 328 and the Porsche 944 Turbo of David Botterill. Whitehouse came out on top with the podium then repeated in the finale.