DOUBLE DELIGHT FOR DITTMANN

Chris Dittmann dominated on his return to the F3 Cup at Brands Hatch, winning both outings in a performance reminiscent of Snetterton in May. He was untouchable from pole in race one, as Robbie Watts could not get near the driver and eponymous team owner, despite the intervention of the safety car mid-race.

Cian Carey completed the podium while behind, title protagonists Jacopo Sebastiani and Shane Kelly both hit trouble. The former fought back to seventh following a dramatic opening lap, while Kelly could have bettered his fourth place finish, had it not been for the poor getaway that left him with too much to do.

Sebastiani, meanwhile, was an innocent victim when he was tipped into a spin by Stuart Wiltshire. Having been eased off the circuit by Wade Eastwood, Wiltshire rejoined only to make contact with Sebastiani.

Dittmann led from lights-to-flag in race two to complete a convincing brace; Eastwood and Watts finished second and third respectively. This time it was Sebastiani’s turn to bog down at the start and while he initially dropped back to sixth behind Kelly, he was fourth by the red flag stoppage that halted the race and further progress. Kelly finished sixth to force the championship to the final rounds at Oulton Park, but with 52 points separating the pair and a maximum of 65 available, the final outcome now seems a formality.

Contrasting performances from Ward Sluys and Bas Schouten cost the pair victory in race one of the Supercars Challenge as Koen Bogaerts and Pieter van Soelen prevailed. Schouten pulled away from van Soelen and into an unassailable lead at the start but after the driver changes and in wet conditions, Sluys struggled. This allowed the chasing BMW in the hands of Bogaerts to catch and pass for the lead before a late safety car confirmed the result.

Bogaerts and van Soelen couldn’t stop Roger Grouwels from taking a superb wet weather victory in race two though. The race one victors resumed their battle with Sluys and Schouten and both cars traded the lead early on before taking their mandatory stops midway through. Sluys emerged ahead of van Soelen but with the heavens opening, the leaders had to stop again for wets and the former found himself out of contention after Sluys was handed a drive-through penalty for pitlane speeding. Ronald van Loon and Luuk van Loon then found themselves leading overall; the pair had come in early to fix bodywork damage and fitted wets, gambling on rain. Grouwels was by now in second with van Soelen struggling in third. The Porsche 991 caught the van Loon brothers and took the lead and the eventual victory two laps from the end.

Oliver Barker left Brands with a substantial Radical Challenge championship lead following a brace of victories and differing fortunes for title rival Jack Lang. With only four points separating them both coming into the weekend, it was the latter who held the advantage after race one when Lang scored an excellent win from pole. Barker could only finish 10th after he was spun at Paddock Bend on the opening lap but he hit back in race two, storming into the lead from fourth at the start and controlling the pace to the flag. Double points were on offer in a wet race three and, with Lang eager to profit, he instead aquaplaned into retirement at Clearways while leading. This left the way clear for Barker to complete his double and take a huge lead into the final round at Snetterton.

Mark Sumpter delivered the perfect Porsche Club weekend with two poles and two race wins. He won the first with ease from Craig Wilkins, who defended well in keeping Michael Price behind in third. Race two was a carbon copy of the first, Sumpter completing the double in the wet to close the title deficit to Mark Mcaleer.

Darren Goes finished first in the Trackday Championship after fighting through from his fifth place grid slot. A late safety car and a conveniently timed mandatory stop meant the SEAT driver finished more than a minute ahead of second placed Callum Mcdougall and Ben Simonds.

Rod Birley just held off Malcolm Wise to win the Tin Tops and Modified Saloons race from pole and Michael Gibbins capitalised on Tom Stoten’s spin to win the Sports 2000 race. Starting on pole, Nick Atkins and Ross Curnow (Lotus Elan) lapped the entire Classic K field to win.

Adriano Medeiros and Doug Crosbie shared the spoils in two thrilling Classic Formula Ford encounters at Cadwell Park.

The late Ayrton Senna described Cadwell as one of his favourite UK tracks when racing similar machinery during the 1980s, but fellow Brazilian Medeiros felt less complimentary after being denied victory on the final lap of Saturday’s race.

The polesitter could not shake off a rapid Crosbie, who showed the nose of his Van Diemen on numerous occasions at the Mountain section. It took a bold lunge around the outside at the same point for Crosbie to snatch a maiden victory on the final lap, briefly banging wheels with his rival.

“It was good, hard racing – that’s what we come to do,” said Crosbie, handing the car over to his father, Paul, for the second race.

Apologising to his team on Saturday, Medeiros was celebrating the next day. Adjustments added confidence, but he was left pondering his luck after Mark Turner’s crash wiped out a 15-second lead over title rival Mark Armstrong.

Armstrong usurped double podium finisher Nigel Lingwood on the restart and swiftly stole Medeiros’s lead, but the reigning champion escaped his “most eventful seven minutes ever” victorious thanks to a brave attack around the outside at Coppice – despite right-rear suspension damage.

Owen Edgley claimed his first Mighty Minis victory on a trying weekend for championship contenders. Radiator damage for Alice Hughes sent her skating off at Hall in race one, title rival Damien Harrington also meeting the barriers after hitting the same fluid. A subsequent fall climbing the barriers left Hughes with ligament damage. Fighting the pain barrier during a sublime race two charge from 14th to fourth, she said: “I’m hobbling, but leading the championship!”

Harrington’s ‘Cadwell jinx’ struck again with CV joint failure in race two, won by Edgley ahead of Mick Grover. Lee Poolman had taken victory in race one, earlier surpassing Peter Bonas who he later collided with in the second race.

Scott Kendall continued his charge towards the Super Mighty Mini crown with his ninth win of the season. Kendall shared wins with Adrian Tuckley, who batted off every attack thrown at him in a restarted second race. Tuckley charged from the back of the grid to lead the opener, but ultimately lost out to a brave Kendall swoop around the outside at Coppice.

In contrast to his Pembrey fortunes, Chris Davison used a safety car interruption to his advantage in the fourhour Citroen C1 Challenge contest. A fortuitously timed pitstop handed him and team-mates Aaron Bailey and Jacques Jensen an advantage of a lap, comfortably winning ahead of an intense battle for second. Will Rayson looked to have grabbed that in the final 20 minutes, but he slid wide at Mansfield and handed Paul Roddison bragging rights.

Roddison and Andrew Stacey timed their best laps to perfection during pitstops to run away with Sunday’s two-hour race, beating Declan Mcdonnell and Joe Wiggin who suffered gearbox problems on Saturday.

Phil Walker had to stomach a late MGOC championship defeat in a drag race to the line. Alan Forster inflicted that heartache having fought from sixth to second, snatching victory from his MG ZR rival with a better exit from Barn corner. Walker had trailed home Mark Baker’s F-class ZR in the opening race, the latter spinning out of contention on the first lap of Sunday’s race.