MERCEDES DUO NEARLY UNSTOPPABLE IN GT CUP CSCC’S SEVENS STILL PROVIDING MAGNIFICENT RACING 10 YEARS ON
Back at Snetterton in 2009, the first ever Classic Sports Car Club Magnificent Sevens event was held, attracting 22 entries. A decade on, the popularity of the series has grown to such an extent that grid numbers now regularly exceed 30 cars. At Brands Hatch last weekend, the numbers were even bigger still.
A capacity grid of 46 Lotus-seven derived cars – reduced from an initial 51 after qualifying – took to the Grand
Prix circuit for a single race on Sunday afternoon, providing the kind of frantic action the series has become synonymous with during its lifespan.
Series coordinator Peter French, a racer himself in the category in his Caterham Superlight, has little doubt why the series has such great appeal for drivers.
“I think the main factors that encourage drivers to the Magnificent Sevens are the camaraderie they can build with each other and the high driving standards,” he said. “Not many series can claim to have such healthy respect between drivers on such a large grid.
“I do not do this job for any other reason than to see happy faces in the paddock and if I can achieve that, then I know I’ve done my job.”
French’s faith in the positivity of the driving standards was justified in the early stages of the event on Sunday as the entire field powered through the first lap without major incident. At the start, Christian Pittard snatched the lead in his Caterham 7 from polesitter Tim Davis in his C400 model, while Jonathan Mitchell ran close behind in third in his CSR version.
Triple TVR Challenge champion Davis reversed the position by the end of the lap and began to pull out a sizeable gap. Pittard was left to battle with Mitchell over second, while Gary Bate, Jonathan Pittard and Colin Watson were providing action aplenty of their own in a tussle for fourth.
A brief safety car period enabled the leading contenders to make their mandatory pitstops, but Mitchell made his stop a lap earlier than Davis and emerged as the leader once the caution period was over. Watson had worked his way up into second at the same point, but hopes of further progress were scuppered when a trip into the Clark Curve gravel dropped him back down to fifth.
Davis, who had dropped to fifth himself following his stop, soon powered his way back into second. Mitchell then made an unscheduled second stop, dropping him out of contention and handing
Davis a seemingly comfortable run to victory. Not so.
“I had actually started to ease off in the closing laps because I thought I had enough of a lead and then suddenly I saw them [Christian Pittard and Watson] closing in on me,” Davis said post-race.
Pittard briefly got ahead on the last lap, but Davis fought back with an audacious move at Clearways that paid off. At the flag, the trio were covered by just 0.221 seconds.
“I was always going to make the move there,” Davis added. “I think we may have made slight contact but that was no problem for me. I wanted that one.”
Incredibly, 41 of the 46 starters finished, underlining the rude health the series is currently in as its second decade gets underway. Treacherous track conditions in the closing laps of Saturday’s second GT Cup race could not stop Will Tregurtha from playing a starring role at Brands Hatch as he helped Grahame Tilley claim a thrilling victory in their Nissan GT-R.
In the early stages of the race, Richard Neary had set the pace in his Mercedes GT3, chased hard by the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Michael Igoe. After running close for several laps, Igoe attempted to make a move as the duo came across backmarkers along Cooper Straight. Neary tried to defend the line, but found himself pitched into a lurid spin. Amazingly, Neary avoided further contact with either the barriers or nearby traffic as he gathered control, but the damage suffered in the collision forced him on to the sidelines. Moments later, the battle for third between the Porsche 911 GT3 of Shamus Jennings and Tom Webb’s Lamborghini Huracan also resulted in a clash, forcing both to visit the pits for repairs.
Following a caution period, Tilley was among several of the chasing pack to make their compulsory pitstops as he handed driving duties over to 2017 British GT4 champion Tregurtha, but new leader Igoe remained on track. By the time Igoe did make his stop a few laps later, his advantage over the charging Tregurtha had been reduced to just over six seconds.
Igoe looked all set to resist Tregurtha’s challenge, but a heavy rain shower transformed the fortunes for both. Igoe spun twice in the closing laps, including on the final tour, helping Tregurtha to snatch the win despite the Nissan “wheelspinning in sixth gear” on the slippery track.
Neary’s fury at his exit from the maiden endurance contest was in stark contrast to the emotions experienced by his son Sam after the first sprint race of the weekend. Competing on the GP track for the first time, Neary Jr claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the family-run Mercedes. Igoe recovered to second after slipping back down the field at mid-distance, while Webb secured third.
Gearbox trouble ruled Igoe out of
Sunday’s pair of races, but both turned out to be dominant victories for the Neary father-and-son duo. Neary Jr completed his perfect weekend by easing to victory in the sprint before teaming up with his father to claim the pitstop contest ahead of Jennings (partnering with Greg Caton) and Tilley/tregurtha.
A opening race win and a third place finish (second in class) in race two was enough for Ashley Dibden to clinch the Monoposto F3 title, although he acknowledged issues for closest rival Alex Fores aided his cause.
Fores had taken pole for race one, only to see his time disallowed when his Dallara F301 failed post-session scrutineering checks. Forced to start from the back of the grid, Fores charged his way up to fourth before a fuel pump problem brought his race to a premature end. Fores dominated race two ahead of newly-crowned Moto 1400 champion Jason Timms in his Dallara 301, while Dibden finished third to guarantee the title.
Another driver relegated to the back of the grid due to issues in qualifying was Cian Carey in the F3 Cup double header. Engine problems with his regular Dallara F311 forced the Irishman to use team-mate Phillip Jeans’ vacant F312 for both races. Stefano Leaney took full advantage to take victory in race one, having got ahead of the fast-starting Shane Kelly on the run into Hawthorn on the opening tour. Leaney was handed a 10s penalty for an out-of-position start in race two, enabling Darragh Daly to inherit the spoils. Kelly took another second, while Carey bounced back from an off in the opening event to claim the final podium spot.
Two rapid starts from Ross Stoner was not enough to deprive former double champion Matt Swaffer of taking both wins in the two Production BMW Championship races. Stoner had led the majority of the first race, only to lose out to Swaffer at Clearways as the duo powered towards the flag. Nigel
Innes claimed a pair of thirds.
Peter Seldon claimed a Racing Saloons double in his BMW M3, despite the best efforts of Peter Osborne in his Vauxhall
Astra VXR. Osborne was not immune from pressure himself from the XJS of
Jaguar Saloon and GT Championship regular Colin Philpott in either race, but Osborne stood firm.