CLUB RACING KEEPS COOL IN 12 HEURES DU NORFOLK
The Club Racing UK team secured victory in the 12 Heures du Norfolk round of the Enduroka series at Snetterton.
Frugal Racing took an early lead with Jim Mcdougall at the wheel. He settled in for a battle with the Peak Performance Reviews car of Lewis Kent for the opening hour, with the pair regularly exchanging the lead position, but both cars fell away during the opening pitstops.
The order was then changed up considerably when the safety car was sent out with nine hours remaining after the Al-most Racers car spectacularly rolled at Murrays after clipping a kerb.
The IP Racing Ford Ka took the lead six hours into the race but their engine expired two and a half hours later, while running seventh, forcing them to retire from the race.
With IP Racing out of action, the lead swapped between Frugal Racing and Club Racing UK, but it was the latter that took control in the final two hours after a pitstop when the safety car sent out with 90 minutes remaining was timed perfectly. That gave it enough time to reemerge with its lead, and it was extended further when Mike Marais in the Frugal Racing Ka spun out of the race with 45 minutes left.
That incident promoted S&N Racing to second place, with Barwell Autosport moving up to round out the top three. The positions at the front remained the same from then on, with Club Racing UK driver Stefan Marsh finishing a lap ahead of Reece Jones in the S&N Racing Ford
Ka. Peak Performance Reviews ended up crossing the line 13th, while the Al-most Racers car, featuring ex-mclaren boss Eric Boullier, finished 15th.
The BMW 130i of Luke Reade inherited victory in the MSVT Trackday championship round on Saturday, after the BDS Motorsport car of James Foard and Callum Tuckett and Renault Clio of Simon Harrison were penalised after the race.
BDS Motorsport had started seventh, but pitted early and a safety car period had appeared to give them an advantage as they found themselves in the lead after the rest of the field pitted, but it was later confirmed that they had stopped too early and were given a 30 second penalty as a result.
The Renault Clio of Rentune Motorsport driver, Simon Harrison was the biggest loser from the safety car period, dropping from the lead to 16th but, after the pit window closed, he was back up to third. On lap 28 of 29, he eventually managed to pass Reade, but he too was later penalised, and was given a two-second penalty for contact, demoting him to second.
James Pinkerton won the opening Radical SR1 Cup championship race in commanding style, completing a lights-to-flag victory, but failed to repeat that feat in the second race, after making a mistake at the midway point.
He recovered to fifth, but it was Dean Warriner who was the eventual victor. He passed Nick Zapolski, who struggled for pace when the rain began to fall, for the lead in the closing stages of the race.